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“O town of old with changeless life, 

“With graves and memories dear, 

“Thy ways bear impress all of strife, 
“Bui ne’er with line of fear.” 


THE ROMANCE OF 
HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 

A Thrilling Narrative of Events 

Founded on Facts and Traditions 

A Complete Guide to the Old City With Explanation and 

Map of Markers 


By v 

REV. EUGENE B. JACKSON, D. D. 

V\ 


Revised and Enlarged Edition 


HARRY W. WADE, Publisher 
Alexandria, Va. 

1923 




i 




















TZ'd^h 

.A»3ur 


Copyright, 1921 
By E. B. JACKSON 
Alexandria, Va. 

c 

« « 

c * < 

1 c 

S 1 "' 


©Cl A7 0 4 08 9 


MAY 23 1923 


/ 


PREFACE BY AUTHOR 

V • 

HOSE who know American history appreciate 
the position occupied by this historic city. Un¬ 
fortunately the tourist has been disappointed 
in a very natural expectation of seeing- many 
points of general and lasting interest, for such 
places have just been marked for the first time. Alexandria 
has neglected her greatest asset—her romantic past. Bos¬ 
ton was her rival in Colonial days, and Washington was 
scarcely a dream; but neither of those cities possessed the 
historic interest of this home town of George Washington, 
There is a great accumulation of fact and generally accepted 
tradition, little known, which has not been properly sifted 
or correlated, and this has been used for the first time, to 
satisfy the average tourist. Much has been ignored because 
only of local interest and unsuited to make Alexandria one 
of the real show places of America. Only outstanding facts 
are given, which to a historian may have a “scattered 
effect” but it is to be remembered that there is no attempt 
at consecutive history of places of note. If her people will 
cherish the fact that much valuable history ivas forged 
here, a new sentiment will crystallize that will wrap her 
about in the veneration and esteem of every lover of liberty 
the world over. Alexandria was the stage on which was 
enacted the history of a continent and a nation, and the 
world’s historic figures moved familiarly upon her streets. 



A lexandria, Virginia , 
January. 1023. 




TABLE OP CONTENTS 


Page 

L Alexandria Registering a Change of Sentiment 1 

Streets Named for Royalty—The King’s High¬ 
way—A Vision of Democracy—Fairfax and Wash¬ 
ington 

IL A Congress Which Defeated Its Main Purpose 5 
Captain John Smith—Carlyle House—Benjamin 
Franklin—“Congress of Alexandria”—A Notable 
Social Center—Nellie Custis—The Ramsay House 

III. A Trustee Who Became Prophet of a New 

World Order . 12 

Mason’s Office—Statutory Law for Religious Free¬ 
dom—Magna Charter of America—Patrick Henry 

IV. An Assembly Hall Which Witnessed the Birth 

, of the American Union.... 15 

George Johnston—Declaration of Independence— 
Cradle of the Constitution—Opposition to Slavery 

V. A Church Which Saw Two Mortal Soul 

Struggles . 19 

Lord Bryan Fairfax—Parsons Weems—Bishop 
Meade—Notable Service—Washington’s Death— 
Washington’s Religion—Momentous Decisions—A 
Striking Incident—World War 

VI. A Square Which Was the Theatre of World 

War Preparations. 25 

Market Square—Washington Loyal to England— 
Washington’s “Failures”—The Rangers—Politics— 

Story of Heroism—Lord Dunmore—Colonel Fitz¬ 
gerald—“Fort Columbia”—“Washington’s Own” 
Company—Battery Rogers—Daniel Morgan 

VII. A Memorial to a Silent Procession of Bygone 

Celebrities .,.... 31 

The Court Yard—Important Personages Guests— 
Significant Balls—The “Female Stranger”—The 
Stabler-Leadbeater Drug Store 

VIII. A City Which Put Patriotism Above Self 

Interest ... 35 

Loyalty in War of 1812—Foolish Midshipmen—A 
Small Sea Fight 









TABLE OF CONTENTS 





IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 


XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 


A Hill That Just Escaped Having the Lead¬ 


ing Capitol of the World. 37 

Shooter’s Hill—Washington’s Unselfishness—The 
Town House 

A Meeting House Which Recalls the Non-Con¬ 
formists . 39 

The Presbyterian Meeting House—Conformity— 
Conspicuous Names—Covenanters 

A Burgher Who Became the World’s First 
Citizen . 42 

Washington, the Boy—Washington, the Man— 
Washington’s Vision for Alexandria—Friendship 
Fire Company 


An Old Jail Connected With the Struggle for 
Religious Liberty... 45 

Jeremiah Moore—Union of Church and State— 
Patrick Henry—Memorial of Imprisonment—Spe¬ 
cious Religious Liberty—Tories in Alexandria 

Physicians Whose Capacity for Friendship 

Immortalized Them . 49 

Dr. Craik-A Faithful Achates—Was It Discour- * 
tesy?—Dr. Dick 


Alexandria Honoring An Old-World Friend of 

Liberty . 

LaFayette and Liberty*—General Roberdeau 

A Family Which Virginia Will Never Allow to 

be Forgotten . 

“Light Horse Harry” — Bootlegging—Robert E. 
Lee—Fitzhugh Lee 


53 


56 


A City Which Was Victim of a System.. 61 

The Shadow of Slavery—“Slave Pen”—Virginia 
Over a Mine 


A City Which Never Dodged a Patriotic Duty... 63 
The French and Indian War—Raising Money for 
the Revolution—Expected War With France— 
Mexican War—Civil War—Spanish War 

Where the Dogs of War Were Unleashed. 66 

The Marshall House—Story of a Tragedy_A 

Southern Sympathizer—The Zouaves at Bull Run 

A Monument to a Man Who is the Wonder of 

the Ages. 70 

The Masonic Memorial—The Pocket Compass— 

The Pocket Knife—The Famous Trowel—The Old 
Clock 


( 












» 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

The Carlyle House. 6 

The Ramsay House. 11 

Gunston Hall.. 13 

George Johnston. 16 

Mount Eagle. 20 

Christ Church . 21 

The Old Colonial Jail. 26 

Gadby’s Inn and Washington’s Headquarters. 32 

The Presbyterian Meeting House. 41 

Friendship Engine House. 43 

The Home of Dr. Craik.•. 52 

LaFayette House . 54 

“Colross” . 55 

Home of “Light Horse Harry” Lee. 57 

Washington Free School. 58 

Early Home of Robert E. Lee. 59 

Marshall House During the War. 67 

The Alexandria Gazette. 72 

Map of City and Markers. 74 




























I 


ALEXANDRIA REGISTERING A CHANGE OF 

SENTIMENT 

“J h c republican is the only form of government 
zvhich is not eternally at open or secret war with the 
rights of mankind.” — Jefferson. 

jw? IRGINIA was named after the “Virgin Queen” 
Elizabeth, and in the gigantic conflict of Crom- 
well with kingly tyranny the sympathies of the 
• proud colony were with the Cavaliers. Indeed, 

when Charles I lost his head, the Burgesses ex¬ 
pressed greatest respect for “the late most excellent and 
now undoubtedly sainted King”; his son, Charles II, in 
exile, was asked to become King of Virginia and actually 
accepted when he was invited to the throne of England. 
When Charles II was on the throne, in gratitude to Virginia, 
he caused her to be proclaimed an independent member of 
his empire, and thus she retained the title of “Old Do¬ 
minion.” There is little wonder that when Alexandria was 
founded by the Fairfaxes, the Washingtons and others, the 
naming of the streets indicated clearly that the people still 
loved royalty. Indeed Alexandria became for a while the 
metropolis of the British Empire in America. 

Streets Named for Royalty 

Nine streets crossed each other at right angles in the 
naming of which the Royal family and Lord Fairfax were 
honored. Fairfax and Royal were crossed by Cameron, 
which was flanked on the south side by King, Prince and 
. Duke, and on the north by Queen, Princess and what should 
have been Duchess, but Oronoco, a little stream, usurped 
its place and name. George Washington assisted in the 
survey. 

Tobacco was then the most important product of the 
colony. Tobacco was transferred from the plantations by 
passing a bar through the hogshead of tobacco to which 
oxen were harnessed, by a frame to which a tongue was 
attached; and the original nucleus of the town at the 
foot of Oronoco street was three tobaqeo warehouses, later 
called Belle Haven. The “King’s Highway” was built on an 




9 


THE ROMANCE OF 


Indian trail to Alexandria from the old Capital, Williams¬ 
burg', where a vice-regal court was held. This was origin¬ 
ally the famous “Rolling Road,” opened by the settlers, and 
used for rolling hogsheads of tobacco to market. 

The King’s Highway 

It has been described: “Beginning on the Chesapeake 
Bay between the York and the James rivers, this path of 
the aborigines led up the backbone of the peninsula, 
through the present city of Williamsburg, to New Kent 
Court House. From there by way of Bowling Green in 
Caroline County, Fredericksburg in Spotsylvania, Stafford 
Court House, through the old Scotch town of Dumfries in 
Prince William, it led to the crossing at the falls of Occo- 
quan. Then bending slightly to the east it wound in a ser¬ 
pentine route by Washington’s Old Mill, close by Mt. Ver¬ 
non, through the ford at Cameron Run and down into the 
village of Bell Haven, now Alexandria.” 

The British government learned to count on Alexan¬ 
dria, and selected it as Braddock’s headquarters. The 
Royal governors were of the opinion that New York should 
be the center of operations. Certainly the troops ought to 
have been landed in Pennsylvania where there were horses 
and wagons. But Braddock did not feel at liberty to depart 
from his instructions concerning the Ohio Valley campaign. 
Later the tide in Alexandria set against the ingratitude of 
i-oyalty, and the marshes still to be seen in the northeast 
section, were called in derision “King George’s Meadows,” 
because George III had opposed a proposal to drain them, 
made in the House of Burgesses. She forgot her love for 
royalty, raising the standard of revolt under Washington, 
and thereafter named her new streets from conspicuous 
leaders in the Revolution. 

A Vision of Democracy 

%> 

Virginia had once worshipped Charles I and had not 
taken kindly to Cromwell. Charles II became her ideal 
cavalier until he proved to her his faithless character. 
Governor Berkley possessed all the faults of royalty and 
tried to subordinate the Burgesses. When George III as¬ 
cended the throne he might have won Virginia but for his 
determination to enjoy all royal prerogatives to the fullest 
extent. His vbto power was used against the best interests 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


of the people. So it came to pass that Alexandria, the lead¬ 
ing city in Virginia save one, lost her relish for royalty and 
named her streets thereafter for great revolutionists like 
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Henry and Lee. 
Wolfe street was named after the British general who had 
won a victory over the French at Quebec, unlike Braddock. 
Wilkes street was named after a member of Parliament who 
had suffered in stout defense of the Colonies. Pitt street 
was named after the British Premier who was a lover of 
liberty. St. Asaph street was named after the Bishop of 
St. Asaph, who wrote in favor of the liberties of the 
Colonies. It was in his house that Benjamin Franklin be¬ 
gan to write his famous autobiography. So high was 
Patrick Henry esteemed by Alexandrians that they named 
two streets after him. In the testing days of the 
Revolutionary period she followed loyally the varying for¬ 
tunes of Washington. Alexandria won the abiding love of 
“The General,” as she affectionately called him, and Wash¬ 
ington in every possible manner reciprocated that affection. 
Strangely, Lord Fairfax, a member of the British House of 
Lords, had been chief promoter of the fortunes of Wash¬ 
ington. Alexandrians showed its appreciation of the Fair¬ 
faxes by naming a street after them. Let it be remembered 
that Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron, was once gayest of 
the young men of London society. Countesses permitted 
him to kiss their-hands, and found in him a con¬ 

genial companion in their intrigues and revels. One of the 
beauties of the time transfixed him. He would take his 
affianced away from the dangerous atmosphere to the prov¬ 
inces. He had expended the wealth of a deep nature on a 
coquette. Carelessly thrown overboard—he found retreat 
from sorrow in far-away Virginia. 

Fairfax and Washington 

In the history of England these two names were as¬ 
sociated, when Gen. Sir Thomas Fairfax joined Cromwell; 
and Rev. Lawrence Washington was evicted from his home 
at Sulgrave Manor, and his family pauperized for loyalty 
to the crown, and his sons driven to repair their fortunes 
in the new world in the colony of Virginia. A descendant 
of the evicted Lawrence was to marry a Fairfax and dwell 
at Mt. Vernon, while an officer in the English army; another 
descendant and brother—the immortal George (whose chief 




THE ROMANCE OF 


4 . 

patron was a Fairfax and who was demoted as an officei 
in the English army), was later to besiege and conquer 
England’s army at Yorktown, and cause a Fairfax to with¬ 
draw into the seclusion of his American estate to die of a 
broken heart. Alexandria is destined to be a place of in¬ 
creasing historic interest as the years go by and ought to 
have monuments of the great figures who were her citizens. 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


♦ 


5 


II 

A CONGRESS WHICH DEFEATED ITS MAIN 

PURPOSE 

“Tyranny is far the worst of treason. Dost thou 
deem none rebels except subjectsf The Prince who 
neglects or violates his trust is more a brigand than the 
robher chief.”■ — Byron. 

HERE are a few historic houses in America that 
stand in a class by themselves, and the Car¬ 
lyle House is one of these. The Carlyle House 
was said by some to be built upon an Old Stone 
Fort. There are no records of its birth, but some 
say it was built by the earliest settlers as a defense against 
the Indians. Within its recesses are narrow, damp cells 
which tradition says were originally used as slave pens and 
stables for cattle when settlers feared Indian raids. It 
ought to be added that the fortifications are now known to 
have been built as a retaining wall, when the hill about the 
Carlyle House was cut down. Captain Robert Howson 
brought some colonists here in 1669 under a Crown patent 
of land, and sold it to John Alexander. There is some evi¬ 
dence that the Old Fort was built as early as 1688, thirty 
years after the coming of Captain John Smith. 

Captain John Smith 

This bold and reckless adventurer with his little com¬ 
pany of fourteen explorers cut the shining waves of the 
Potomac with the prow of his open pinnace, upward bound 
to the region of the powerful Piscataways and Mayonese 
on whose hunting grounds and war paths the cities of 
Washington and Alexandria now stand. From the notes 
and observations of this famous explorer, he made a map 
of the lands bordering the- Potomac, with their numerous 
affluents and various Indian settlements, which is still ex¬ 
tant in his quaint book of travels and exploration. He oc¬ 
cupied the island, over night, just across the rivei. 

Carlyle House 

It was built in 1752 by a leading Scotch merchant, John 
Carlyle, who married into the Fairfax family. The home 





6 


THE ROMANCE OF 


became a center of social, and later of political influence. 
He permitted General Braddock to use it as headquarters in 
England’s major campaign in the South against the aggres¬ 
sions of the French in America. According to Washington 
Irving it was simply a doubtful business transaction with 
an Indian tribe that made England claim rights in the Ohio 
Valley. Governor Dinwiddie was a stockholder in the Ohio 
Company and used his position to send Washington as envoy 



THE CARLYLE HOUSE 
Facing 1 Lee Street, Between Cameron and King 


to warn away the French. Indeed some of the Burgesses 
doubted Dinwiddie’s claim to the disputed territory. The 
issue in any case was whether the Anglo-Saxon type of 
civilization should prevail in North America, and only the 
capture of Quebec by General Wolfe brought the desired 
consummation. 






HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 7 

\ 

Benjamin Franklin 

In this mansion Benjamin Franklin, Postmaster Gen¬ 
eral for America, consulted concerning- mail facilities and 
wagons for Braddock’s army, for communication with the 
Governors must not be cut off. This very remarkable man, 
with his marvelous wisdom, ought to be placed high upon 
the roll of honor as a patriot, with unassailable integrity. 
It ought never to be forgotten that he secured from the 
farmers, horses which did not measure up to representations 
and paid for them out of his own pocket, trusting to British 
authorities for a return. Later he was removed from his 
office of Deputy Postmaster General for the British 
Colonies because of his activities in behalf of the Colonies. 
Indeed it was his representations before the Commons that 
caused the obnoxious Stamp Act to be repealed. This great 
man tried while in England to prevent a disruption between 
the America Colonies and the Mother Country, but when 
this became inevitable he returned home and took an active 
part in promoting Independence. He was one of five ap¬ 
pointed to draft the “Declaration of Independence.” He 
had little sympathy in his marvelous intellectual efforts, 
on the part of his wife whose lack of culture unfitted her to 
appreciate his gigantic abilities. His son, William, was 
British governor of the Province of New Jersey and a rabid 
Tory, and referred to his father—the great Doctor—as “a 
misguided man.” Here was introduced to the British Gen¬ 
eral Braddock the former Adjutant General of the Virginia 
Colonial Forces (in training for service against the Indians) 
and George Washington was thus called providentially to 
save England from a disaster which might have turned the 
course of history backward. Significant it is that Benjamin 
Franklin, loyal to England now, was to influence the French 
court to send the fleet under Count Pvochambeau, which co¬ 
operated with Washington at Yorktown and thereby broke 
forever the grip of England upon this Western world. This 
wily diplomat, later at the French court, is said to have 
hinted to the Bourbon King that by helping the Colonies 
against their traditional enemy, England, he might be able 
to win back from her some of his great possessions taken 

in the French and Indian War. 


8 


THE ROMANCE OF 


“Congress of Alexandria" 

In this old house was written the famous lettei, in 
existence and signed by Braddock and the Colonial Govei- 
nors in the well-known “Congress of Alexandna, urging 
upon Lord North’s government the taxing of the colonies 
in order to actualize England’s colonial dream, and result- 
ing in the despised Stamp Act. It was the representations 
of Franklin before the Commons that secured later the re¬ 
peal of the Stamp Act. This famous “Congress of Alex¬ 
andria” advised in the letter that it should be proposed 
to His Majesty’s Minister “to find out some method of com¬ 
pelling the colonies to raise the proportion expected by His 
Majesty toward defraying the expenses of his service.” It 
furthermore advised that “such a fund can never be estab¬ 
lished without the aid of Parliament.” The aid came w ith 
the “Stamp Act.” George Johnston, town trustee of Alex¬ 
andria and member of the Burgesses and an able lawyer, 
thereupon prepared resolutions and placed them in the 
hands of Patrick Henry, who recast them, and Virginia thus 
was set on fire by this firebrand in old St. John’s Church. By 
the strange irony of fate the old Carlyle House thus wit¬ 
nessed at the same time the presence of England’s repre¬ 
sentatives who precipitated the Revolution and also the 
presence of the men who were most largely instrumental in 
leading her colonies toward the greatest democracy of all 
history* This house was one of the great social centers of 
Virginia. 

A Notable Social Center 

Carlyle drew around him statesmen who came to dis¬ 
cuss laws for the country. General Washington, in his 
diary, makes frequent mention of dining at Colonel Car¬ 
lyle’s, where an open house was kept for all the gentry of 
that day, a society that for culture and refinement was un¬ 
surpassed. Besides Washington, Jefferson and Aaron Burr 
were often here. John Marshall, Charles Carroll and John 
Paul Jones partook of its hospitality. Here lingers the 
shade of James Rumsey, the inventor of the first steamboat, 
who was encouraged by George Washington and whose 
body lies in Westminster Abbey. On the balcony overlook¬ 
ing the river gallants whispered nothings in the moonlight. 
Legend tells of Washington’s interest in little Sally Cary. 
As she came tripping down the glistening stairway her 
escort, George Washington, was awaiting her to take her 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


9 


to a ball. History bequeaths the storv that Washington 
loved Sally Cary, but that she loved George William Fairfax 
who was afterwards to own “Belvoir,” just below Mt. Ver¬ 
non. One of Washington's most serious romances was with 
Mary Phillipse, a Virginian, then living in New York. But 
though she admired and respected him she did not love him 
and gently turned him down. She married Col. Roger Mor¬ 
ris of the King’s Army. In 1776 Washington, when Com- 
mander-in-C hief of the Continental Army, occupied the 
mansion, near New York, of Col. Morris, the Col. and Mrs. 
Morris being fugitive Tories. General Lafayette was in¬ 
fatuated with the beautiful daughter of General Roberdeau 
who had come from the West Indies to help the Colonies and 
whose father fled from France at the “Edict of Nantes.” 
Here attractive Eliza Herbert trembled beneath the fasci¬ 
nating eyes of Aaron Burr. Burr later attempted to pay 
court to this young lady at her home (206 King St.), and 
she is said to have given him no encouragement, but went 
so far as to spurn his attentions. 

Nellie Custis 

In Alexandria Nellie Custis had many friends, the Car¬ 
lyles, the Ramsays, the Daltons, the Craiks, the Arals, the 
Fitzgeralds and the Johnstons, all of whom made frequent 
visits to Mt. Vernon and with whom at their hospitable 
homes in the then new town of Alexandria she was an oft- 
time guest. Two rival beauties of that day were Miss 
Woodroaw and Miss Fontenay, whose charms involved the 
young gentlemen of Alexandria nearly to the point of duel¬ 
ling. Many gay assemblies were held in the “Blue Room” 
during the passing years, lending entrancing interest to its 
more sober memories. 

The Carlyle House owner could boast of his own bank 
located on the corner of Fairfax and Cameron streets, 
whose walls are part of the “Wagar,” which was used by 
Washington as the first Federal treasury, and also a private 
dock at the foot of Cameron street with an underground 
passageway (still partly in existence), leading to the vaults 
below the Carlyle House, where wines and other commodi¬ 
ties were stored, but likely used before as dungeons for In¬ 
dian prisoners. It seems quite likely that the hired Hessian 
soldiers, who surrendered to Washington at Yorktown, were 
imprisoned in the old dungeons until work was secured for 
them in Alexandria in laying the muddy streets with the 


10 


THE ROMANCE OF 


cobblestones, still in evidence. Just across the street (north¬ 
east corner of Fairfax and Cameron) stands the afterwards 
famous home, built by John Dalton, partner of Carlyle. 

The Ramsay House 

The house was built in 1751 and it remains today with 
its quaint architecture the oldest house in Alexandria. Mrs. 
Ramsay was Anne McCarty Ball, a cousin of Washington 
and noted for her wit and beauty and liberality. Jefferson 
said she was one of the most patriotic women in Virginia. 
She was the daughter of Dennis McCarty and Sarah Ball 
and her grandfather was Speaker of the House of Burgesses 
in 1715. The Ramsay house was the scene of much hos¬ 
pitality in Colonial and Revolutionary days. General and 
Mrs. Washington frequently dined there after service at 
Christ Church. The dancing class often met there and at¬ 
tending it were Patsy Cjustis (daughter of Mrs. Washing¬ 
ton), Sally Carlyle, Jennie Dalton and Sally Ramsay. The 
young people were thus prepared for the dancing assemblies 
which were held at the “Royal George,” located at the cor¬ 
ner of Cameron and Royal streets, as far back as 1762. 
Washington attended these dances, which were lighted by 
tallow candles. 



THE RAMSAY HOUSE 
Corner Kin# and Fairfax Streets 













12 


THE ROMANCE OF 




III 

A TRUSTEE WHO BECAME PROPHET OF A NEW 

WORLD ORDER 

“Here the free spirit of mankind, at length throws its 
last fetters off, and zvho shall place a limit to the 
giant’s unchained strength, or curb his swiftness in the 
forward race.” — Bryant. 

Mason’s Office 

T the southwest corner of King and Royal Sts. 
stood the town office of the famous George 
Mason, the semi-recluse of Gunston Hall. Here 
it was that he carried on his private business 
and acted as trustee for Alexandria. He early 
became acquainted with George Washington and largely 
influenced both Washington and Jefferson in their concep¬ 
tion of the government of a state. Probably no man pro¬ 
duced works of greater importance to the human family, 
during the mighty struggle for American Independence. It 
seems likely that in this little office he consulted with the 
great leaders in perfecting the final draft of the “Fairfax 
County Resolves,” which blazed the way for civil and re¬ 
ligious liberty in this Western world, and which was fore¬ 
runner of his famous “Declaration of Rights.” 

Statutory Law for Religious Freedom. 

Mason was a farmer and lived not far from Mt. Vernon. 
He was author of the “Fairfax County Resolves” in 1774, 
and later was a member on the Burgesses with Jefferson, 
Pendleton and others, who prepared the bill there for re¬ 
ligious freedom—the first statutory law for protecting man 
in his right to worship God according to his own conscience. 
This farmer-member from Fairfax was appointed to draft 
the Declaration of Rights and Constitution, both of which 
were adopted in June, 1776. 

Magna Charter of America 

A historian declares that the Bill of Rights may be 
called not only the Magna Charta of Virginia, but of Arner- 




HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


13 


ica. In the Revolution Mason wrote: “I will risk the last 
penny of my fortune and the last drop of my blood on the 
issue. ’ Again he wrote: “If I can only live to see the Amer¬ 
ican Union firmly fixed and free government established in 
our Western World . ... I shall be satisfied/’ The Fair¬ 

fax County Resolves” discussed, in the old Court House in 
Alexandria (which stood on Fairfax street, midway of 
Market Square), antedated the so-called “Mecklenburg 
Declaration, ’ and was the basis of a speech delivered next 
year by Washington before the convention at Williamsburg; 



GUNSTON HALL 
Home of George Mason 


and was likewise the treasure house from which Jefferson 
drew his inspiration and even phrases, in his fight for 
liberty, and in framing the Declaration of Independence. 
Mason was said to be more religious than Washington. Only 
his clear thinking prevented the Commonwealth of Virginia 
from yielding to her leaders in providing for the ministers 
of all denominations by a general assessment of the people 
of the state when the establishment was done away with. 





14 


THE ROMANCE OF 


Patrick Henry 

Patrick Henry, in his defense of Jeremiah Moore, a 
Baptist minister (in 1773), in the same Court House, “for 
preaching the gospel without license/’ had probably argued 
the necessity for absolute separation of Church and State. 
Alexandria knew in her councils, therefore, Mason the man 
who first 'proclaimed the principles of democracy, and who 
was potent in the setting up of this government, making 
himself a great world figure. 

The name of one other Alexandrian ought to be for¬ 
ever linked with that of George Mason, and it is none other 
than George Johnston, who represented Alexandria in the 
House of Burgesses in 1765. He wrote resolutions for nulli¬ 
fying in the Burgesses the Stamp Act. Shortly afterwards 
he prepared the resolutions which Patrick Henry (after re- * 
casting them) introduced in the House. He immediately 
seconded those resolutions, and when Patrick Henry spoke 
the memorable words: “Caesar had his Brutus, Charles 1, 

his Cromwell, and George III .” Johnson argued 

strongly in their favor. This was Alexandria’s share that 
memorable day. George Johnston died the year following, 
but he deserves a monument. He was a great patriot and 
had the vision of a statesman. 




HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


15 


IV 

AN ASSEMBLY HALL WHICH WITNESSED THE 
BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN UNION 

“Sail on, O Ship of State! 

”Sail on, O Union, strong and great! 

“Humanity with all its fears, 
c< Witli all its hopes of f uture years, 

“Is hanging breathless on thy fate!* 

— Longfellow. 


HE “Assembly Hall” of Alexandria stood at the 
northeast corner of Market Square, on the site 
of the present Clerk’s Office. In 1759 a Town 
Hall was built by lottery, a generally accepted 
system of raising money in that day. The town 
trustees undertook the sale of the tickets, and in order to 
encourage subscriptions, resort was had to “treating.” An 
old ordinance book contains this record: “To cash for 
treat at Summers, 2 1 / 4 gallons rum and sugar.” This car¬ 
nival feature promoted enthusiasm, for this “Faneuil Hall, 
Alexandria” was soon completed, and was to become the 
scene of historic gatherings that affected the future his¬ 
tory of a nation. The citizens of the town often voiced 
their feelings here in public meetings concerning the great 
issues of the day. 

George Johnston 

It ought ever to be remembered in the annals of the 
town, that one of the Town Trustees , George Johnston (and 
a member of the Burgesses) prepared, at his home on the 
northwest corner of Prince and Lee streets, resolutions 
- (mentioned before) nullifying the Stamp Act (1765) which 
were presented, with some changes, by Patrick Henry in 
the Burgesses. He said to his wife on completing the reso¬ 
lutions (for he determined to present them himself in the 
Burgesses): “This paper may cost me my life, yet it is 
the truth, and whether or not any one sustains me I will 
not turn back.” It is generally conceded now that Patrick 
Henry wrote the final draft of the resolutions upon the fly 
leaf of an old law book, but certainly Johnston was one of 
the two with whom he consulted before their presentation, 





THE ROMANCE OF 



GEORGE JOHNSTON 






























HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


17 


probably knowing his intimacy with George Mason. 
1 nomas Jefferson who was present, declares that “Henry 
spoke as Homer wrote,” but that Johnston maintained “the 
learning and the logic of the case.” It may be confidently 
affirmed that the eloquence of Henry without the help of 
Johnston, would have been insufficient to cause the passage 
of the resolutions in the presence of so many strong leaders 
who were unswerving advocates of the crown. The joint 
efforts of these two men triumphed. George Washington 
voted with them on that memorable occasion and one vote 
would have turned the tide. :i: 

Declaration of Independence 

Alexandrians met in the “Assembly Hall” to recon¬ 
sider the Stamp Act, and resolved that: “If Boston is forced 
to submit, we will not.” Thus, before Patrick Henry’s great 
speech in the Assembly of Virginia, the freeholders of Fair¬ 
fax County, in 1774, intimately associated themselves with 
the spirit that led to the Declaration of Independence. An 
English writer of that time says: “Here it was that George 
Washington, amid the plaudits of its inhabitants, first 
stepped forth as the patron of sedition and revolt, actually 
subscribing fifty pounds in support of hostilities. The birth 
of the Declaration of Independence may really he said to 
have taken place here.f Boston's famous Liberty Hall 

must, therefore, take second place. 

< 

Cradle of the Constitution 

It was in this old “Assembly Hall” likewise, accord- 
ing to unpublished records of the “Patowmack Company”, 
(1785) that was held the first Conference, probably fathered 
from Mt. Vernon, concerning the navigation of Chesa¬ 
peake Bay and the Potomac River. In this confer¬ 
ence Washington, scenting the dangers likely to arise from 
the separate interests of the Colonies, introduced for the 
first time the question of a Federal Constitution (though 
this was previously considered informally at Mt. Vernon). 
This conference adjourned to meet at Annapolis the follow- 


* It ought in fairness to be said that Jefferson did not like Patrick 
Henry and that this well-known fact may have accounted for apparent 
bias against Henry’s part on a momentous occasion. 

t It is claimed by some that the Carlyle House witnessed these 
beginnings of the struggle for liberty, with Benjamin Franklin present. . 



18 


THE ROMANCE OF 


ing Fall (1786) and only because of a minority representa¬ 
tion there the subsequent convention met at Philadelphia. 
Alexandria rightly claims, therefore, to be “the Cradle of 
the Constitution.” It is a matter of not a little pride his¬ 
torically that the Carlyle House witnessed the first sugges¬ 
tion of Colonial taxation, and that the old “Assembly Hall” 
of the town witnessed the first concerted movement against 
British tyranny, as well as the beginning and development 
of the feeling that led to the Declaration of Independence. 
All this was crowned by the crystallization, in meeting here, 
of a sentiment that resulted in the making of our Constitu¬ 
tion. 

Opposition to Slavery 

It seems likely that in the early part of last century, 
when Alexandria was part of the District of Columbia, that 
the “Assembly Hall” witnessed the historic occasion of a 
gathering of Alexandrians to protest to the government at 
Washington, against the institution of slavery. The Fed¬ 
eral authorities failed to heed this voice from the home 
town of Washington and Mason, but preferred rather to 
compromise; and later, by the logic of events, Alexandria 
was forced, with Virginia, into the position of defending by 
war a system which her leaders had always disapproved. 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


19 


V 


A CHURCH WHICH SAW TWO MORTAL SOUL 

STRUGGLES 

"No iron chains, or outward force of any kind, could 
ever compel the soul of man to believe or disbelieve; it 
is his own indefensible light, that judgment of his own; 
he will reign and believe there by the Grace of God 
alone!’ ’—C a rlyl e. 


H yjEFORE this structure was placed here there had 
f been originally a small building on North Pitt 
|| Street named the “Chapel of Ease.” With the 
1/ new building the title was changed to “the 
£ Church at Alexandria” and later to “Christ 
Church.” Before the Revolution Washington divided his 
time between this church and Pohick, but after the Revolu¬ 
tion he came here almost exclusively. Crowds have been 
visiting it as a sacred shrine through all the years and 
last year about eighteen thousand passed through its gates. 
Washington was a member of its vestry for a brief time, 
in 1765. He was interested in its construction, while yet a 
member of the Church of England. But he was liberal in 
his religious ideas and was ready to subscribe to the con¬ 
struction of buildings of non-conforming congregations. 
Most of the landed gentry of this region attended either this 
church or that at Falls Church, but naturally the parishes 
of the Establishment were somewhat under ban after the 
Revolution for twenty-five years. During the ministry of 
Rev. William Gibson some of its members temporarily at¬ 
tended the old “Presbyterian Meeting House” now to be 
seen on South Fairfax street, on account of some difference 
with the rector. 


Lord Bryan Fairfax 

In 1790 Rev. Bryan Fairfax, who was afterwards Baron 
of Cameron and who lived across Hunting Creek at Mt. 
Eagle, became rector of Washington’s church. They had 
always been good friends, which friendship was undis¬ 
turbed by the Revolution though Fairfax remained a Tory. 








THE ROMANCE OF 


20 



MOUNT EAGLE 

South Side of City, Across Hunting- Creek 
















HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


21 


Parsons Weems 

The biographer of the youthful Washington (whose 
a neater sale than all other combined) was sug¬ 
gested as his assistant but was not acceptable. Weems was 
exceedingly eccentric, both in his style and his sermon sub¬ 
ject matter. Indeed he was too shockingly informal for the 



CHRIST CHURCH 

Corner Cameron and Columbus Streets 

ecclesiastical authorities. It is significant that when the 
glebe lands were taken from the Episcopal Church in Vir¬ 
ginia, Edmund Lee, brother of “Light Horse Harry,” was 
able to save such lands to Christ Church though these were 
later sold for the benefit of that church. Edmund Lee was 












22 


THE ROMANCE OF 


an ardent Christian and vestryman, but “Light Horse 
Harry” while a great patriot and soldier gave little atten¬ 
tion to such matters and rarely was seen at church. 

Bishop Meade 

Christ Church suffered greatly, according to Bishop 
Meade, from the “professional parson,” but with the coming 
of this good man it began greatly to prosper spiritually and 
ministered to all classes. It is interesting to note that min¬ 
isters of various denominations preached in Christ Church 
previous to its consecration, in 1814. Within these walls 
the gifted and brilliant John Randolph, of Roanoke, wor¬ 
shipped. This great politician trembled before the preach¬ 
ing of Rev. Mr. Meade. Afterwards he wrote him: “Give 

me your prayers.. What must I do to be saved?. 

Help Lord or I perish.Your afflicted friend, John Ran¬ 

dolph, of Roanoke.” 

Notable Service 

A notable service was held here after the Revolution, 
at the departure of the last British redcoat from these 
shores. The then rector, Dr. Griffith, who had followed 
Washington as chaplain and had warned him of the treach¬ 
ery of Gen. Charles Lee, conducted the service. That a 
clergyman so closely connected with the Revolution should 
have been unanimously chosen as rector, shows this church 
to have been in thorough sympathy with the patriotic cause. 
(Indeed the leaders in battle and in council, were almost to 
a man, Episcopalians.) The church was garnished with 
flowers and evergreens. Over the pulpit was the figure of a 
white dove bearing an olive branch. The rector used as his 
text averse from the 128th Psalm: “Yea, thou shalt see thy 
children’s children and peace upon Israel.” The reverence 
of the British soldiers for this and other churches, in the 
two British occupations was marked. 

Washington’s Death 

At the time of Washington’s death the bell of Christ 
. Church was said to have been tolled almost continuously till 
the hour of his funeral in which Alexandria took such con¬ 
spicuous part. An English woman (Mrs. Anne Ritson, who 
cordially despised the city), was a poetaster, and happened 
to be in Alexandria at the time of Washington’s sickness 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


23 


and tells how the event overshadowed everything else. 
“Washington adored of all, was sick, and had sent to town 
for Dr. Dick,” and “The hero to the grave consigned, to 
other thoughts I gave my mind.” 

Washington’s Religion 

The seat shown as Washington’s was evidently selected 
that the light of the window might fall on his prayer book. 
When it was the fashion of the day, among leading men, 
to profess infidel views, Washington might have been silent 
on the subject but he seems to have taken special pains to 
impress on the nation his opposition to the skepticism of 
the age. He was indeed recognized by the political and 
military men of his day as a true believer in Christianity. 
John Marshall testifies that he was a sincere believer and 
a truly devout man. Probably no man suffered more from 
misrepresentation in political battles, and he was silent 
under them. For many years he partook of communion and 
then ceased, because he felt that it might subject him to 
fresh storms of abuse. Certainly his religious experiences 
were deepened by the crises of the Revolution. It was very 
natural that Col. Robert E. Lee, then a distinguished officer 
of the Federal Army, should decide to bring his family from 
Arlington, built by a Custis, to worship in Christ Church. 
He had attended Sunday School there in boyhood and was 
confirmed there in 1853.* Dr. Randolph McKim, the rector, 
preached a most striking memorial sermon at the time of 
Lee’s death. 


Momentous Decisions 

Two momentous decisions were witnessed, at wide in¬ 
tervals, under the shadow of Christ Church. Washing¬ 
ton in the summer of 1774 (year of the “Fairfax Resolu¬ 
tion”), surrounded by his friends standing at the door, ad¬ 
vised the renunciation of King George III and declared that 
he would fight for the Independence of the Colonies. Lee, 
87 years later in the same place (after being offered com¬ 
mand of the Federal armies), when intimation was made 
that he would ultimately command the Confederate armies, 
knelt here in prayer with a heavy heart, loyally determined 

* R. E. Lee was one of the boys who helped decorate this church 
with evergreens at Christmas time. Here he dedicated to God a life 
already glorious and became Christ’s faithful soldier. 



24 


THE ROMANCE OF 


to follow the fortunes of his beloved State, thus carrying 
into effect literally, according to Henry Cabot Lodge, the 
provisions of the Constitution, which Washington had 
helped create and whose influence, almost alone, caused Vir¬ 
ginia reluctantly to adopt it. 

The statue of the first was placed in London amidst the 
acclaim of admiring Britishers; and that of Lee in Statuary 
Hall, Washington, and he will yet become a national hero. 

A Striking Incident 

The old Christ Church was taken possession of during 
the first summer of the war—St. Paul’s remained open. 
The spirit of the times is illustrated by an incident. The 
rector of St. Paul’s was bidden to read the ritual in which 
prayer was made for the President of the United States. 
The captain of Illinois cavalry advanced to the front of the 
chancel one Sunday morning, and finding no attention paid 
to his injunction to read the omitted prayer, began reading 
it himself. A vestryman seized the first one who entered the 
chancel and threw him over the railing. A squad of sol¬ 
diers charged up the isle with fixed bayonets and the clergy¬ 
man was arrested. The release of the rector, Rev. Kenzie 
Johns, was accomplished on instruction from Washington. 
The Alexandria Gazette gave an account of the incident and 
that very night the office was burned to the ground by Fed¬ 
eral soldiers. This church then, with others, was used as 
a hospital during the war. 

World War 

The World War brought to this country in conference 
former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour, who worshipped on 
a Sunday morning in the very place made sacred by the 
memories of Washington. General Pershing came here in 
October, 1920. Upon the return of the soldiers of Alexan¬ 
dria from the immortal battlefields of France, Christ- 
Church witnessed a notable memorial service participated 
in by ministers of all denominations. The enthusiasm of 
the town of Washington was at white heat on account of 
the mighty struggle for democracy. 



HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


25 


VI 

A SQUARE WHICH WAS THE THEATRE OF WORLD 

WAR PREPARATIONS 

“March to the battlefield, 

The foe is now before ns; 

Bach heart is Freedom's shield, 

And heaven is shining o’er ns.” 

— O’M earn. 


Market Square 

ROM the first the market square has been the 
center of historic interest. Of course it has 
always been a place of barter and sale, ai>£i 
Washington interested himself in having a fresh 
supply of vegetables there, as well as the use 
of proper weights and measures by the dealers. Many 
a county fair was held here. There is a tale concerning a 
fine deer that found its way from the park at Mt. Vernon 
to the market and was promptly identified by General Wash¬ 
ington and the poachers summarily dealt with. 

This square was a “Commons” and for years had only 
three small buildings, the Court House, the old Jail, and 
the “Assembly Hall.” It probably is as historic as the 
“Boston Commons.” Here it was the Virginia troops were 
mustered into service and trained for the great campaigns 
in North America when England and France were in a 
death grapple for the supremacy of a continent. (Wash¬ 
ington was sent, from his headquarters hard by the “Com¬ 
mons,” by Governor Dinwiddie, to warn the French against 
encroachment upon the English in the Ohio Valley, and 
because they did not heed they lost a Continent.) 

Washington Loyal to England 

Washington, as envoy, on this first trip selected a place 
for a fort at the confluence of the Alleghany and Mononga- 
hela Rivers, which French engineers subsequently chose for 
the site of Fort Duquesne. At the behest of Dinwiddie he 
set out a second time for the new fort on the Ohio with 
about 150 men. It ought not to be forgotten that Dinwiddie 
raised the troops for the expedition by proclaiming a bounty 




26 


THE ROMANCE OF 


of 200,000 acres of land about the fort, to be divided among 
the officers and soldiers. Washington wrote this word to 
Lord Fairfax: “I had no view of acquisition but that of 
honor, by faithfully serving my King and country On 
this expedition he engaged in the fight at Great Meadows 
(in the center of which was Fort Necessity) from which 
he was forced to retire because of superior numbers, but 
with honors of war. Washington was under a cloud, how- 



—^ 


the tunc* of of ;»re»Us, tseoxo. rsr 

to sis,® t&fea i*s 

s Itiort# to ti* at Motion sss' •<•»*,.<.*>*<«» *•»* 
sofa-*:! to Ost- 

»* :xl * •»< *»««**< '4* ftlsMi, ntnf *S)a - 
. »*!»!,: *Qr«at 0*4 «„•«* . a , »* or) s r,. 

*#»*»&*% t»« ***?*i <Sfcr4*t.« ». ' 

*»**•'•»*,*» », 5 „. 3 . Jt» ,. a . . 

*#* *» *««*« «it« *»• 8ia»nr4*ai :o- - . 

— -'—■■im— ------ 


THE OLD COLONIAL JAIL 

ever, from having surrendered Fort Necessity and later was 
demoted from the rank of colonel to that of captain, and re¬ 
signed in disgust, retiring to Mt. Vernon till the coming of 
Gen. Braddock. Washington wrote to his brother Lawrence 
(who was a British officer in England’s previous contest 
with Spanish world aspirations) : “I have been on the losing 
order since I entered the service, which is two years.” His 
failures were to become stepping stones to great success. 





































































HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


27 


Washington’s “Failures” 

It is an interesting fact that “of the eighty-nine en¬ 
gagements in the eight years of the Revolution, General 
Washington personally commanded only nine. He really 
won only three decisive battles—Trenton, Princeton and 
Yorktown. Several of the others were drawn and in some 
he was badly defeated. Most of the general engagements 
were won by Washington’s subordinates. A royal army, 
splendidly equipped, however, was not the worst of his 
many formidable enemies. Treachery, intrigue and mis¬ 
representation of himself were his daily experience. De¬ 
spair had seized the leaders but this wonderful man, like 
some tall mountain, rose serenely above the raging storm. 

The Rangers 

Washington had been in intimate touch with mili¬ 
tary preparations here ever since he was Adjutant General 
of the Virginia Forces, in training against the Indians. On 
these “Commons” Washington, while Braddock was making 
preparations, trained the “Virginia Rangers” for that dis¬ 
astrous campaign. (The name had been given the Colonials 
because of the peculiar coats furnished.) 

It ought to be remembered that John Washington, 
great-grandfather of the first President of the United 
States, in consideration of valuable services rendered to the 
colony, received from Lord Culpeper the original grant of 
land to the Washington family which is now known as Mt. 
Vernon. When Governor Berkeley refused permission to 
Nathaniel Bacon to guard the border settlements against 
raids of the Indians, then it was that John Washington 
boldly came to the front. He became Lieutenant-Colonel of 
the provincial military and commanded the joint forces of 
Maryland and Virginia Rangers, which broke the backbone 
of Indian power east of the Blue Ridge. Indeed, the last 
stand of the Indians before this intrepid leader was made 
on the Mt. Vernon estate. After the disastrous Braddock * 
campaign and the ignominious retreat of the British regu¬ 
lars to Philadelphia, the beautiful Valley of Virginia was 
again threatened by all the horrors of savage warfare. 
George, the grandson of John the pioneer, was employed by 
Dinwiddie in this frontier defense, and built large fortifica¬ 
tions—one of which was Fort Loudoun at Winchester. 




28 


THE ROMANCE OF 


Politics 

A historic incident occurred in an exciting political con¬ 
test between Mr. Fairfax and Mr. Ellzey for the House of 
Burgesses. The young surveyor could not forget ties of 
blood and friendship with his patrons, the Fairfaxes. 
Washington supported Fairfax with possibly too much zeal, 
and Payne supported Ellzey. High words passed between 
Washington and Payne. Payne, by a heavy blow, brought 
Washington to the earth. Troops rushed out from the bar¬ 
racks and would have made short work of Payne had not 
Washington pacified them. Everybody felt that a duel was 
imminent. Next morning Washington sent for Payne and 
said to him: “Mr. Payne, to err is human; I was wrong 
yesterday, but if you have had sufficient satisfaction let us 
be friends.” Weems says that Washington became Payne’s 
ideal of manhood, and certainly his son was pall bearer at 
Washington’s funeral. 

Story of Heroism 

Out of twenty men from Alexandria in Braddock’s ex¬ 
pedition only four returned to tell the story. Three months 
after Braddock’s departure a courier came riding into Mar¬ 
ket Square and announced to the hastily gathered crowd 
the news of Braddock’s defeat and death, and that many 
Alexandria boys had fallen. Affection was manifested for 
Washington and his Colonial troops as the crowd learned 
how they had saved the day. 

No previous event in the history of the town had so 
stirred the people; the country people came crowding in to 
learn the disastrous tidings that many of Alexandria’s 
bravest sons had fallen. Two companies had been sent from 
Alexandria and vicinity. Only thirty of these returned 
from the field of battle. When we tell our school children 
of the story of Sparta and Balaclava they should know the 
story of the little remnant of Virginians that returned from 
Braddock’s ill-fated expedition. 

The former respect in which the British “regular” was 
held was then turned into indignation and contempt, be¬ 
cause they had acted (as Washington afterwards described 
it) “like sheep pursued by dogs and it was impossible to 
rally them.” Three British regulars, ever afterward, were 
counted in Alexandria as about equal to one Colonial sol¬ 
dier. Among the men of Alexandria who returned to be 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


29 


musteied out, probably in Market Square, were John Car¬ 
ole and Dr. James Craik. Washington was honorary cap- 
tam of the Alexandria Independent Blues” when he was 
made Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Forces, and wrote 
them not to relax their discipline, on June 20, 1775. 

Lord Dunmore 

In 1776 when Lord Dunmore, the treacherous Colonial 
Governor, was ravaging the Potomac, three British war 
\essels came within a few miles of the town and the towns¬ 
men mustered for defense on Market Square. Colonel Fitz¬ 
gerald, who was probably left in charge by Washington, 

hastened with the “Blues” from the Square to a small stone 
fort nearby. 

Colonel Fitzgerald 

The flag was to be kept flying from Market Square and 
a militia officer was left in command by Fitzgerald. Mean¬ 
while a solid shot was fired at the flag and the officer in 
charge struck the colors. Fitzgerald returned the fire from 
the fort, which was located at Jones’ Point and called Fort 
Columbia, a small stone bastion, armed with guns left be¬ 
hind by Braddock. Most of the great stones now at the end 
of Jones’ Point are the remains of that fort. This fort was 
the first attempt of the government to guard the river ap¬ 
proaches to Alexandria. The vessels of the enemy sailed 
down the Potomac. Fitzgerald later learning what the of¬ 
ficer had done, indignantly returned to the Square and gave 
him a sound thrashing. Fitzgerald was specially attached 
to the young Colonel, having been seen at times weeping 
for fear when Washington was in great danger. He is said 
to have been the creator of Washington’s Life Guard. 

“Fort Columbia” 

This was a fortification of wood and earthwork, mount¬ 
ing some heavy guns, among them the cannon left by Brad- 
dock’s army in 1755, as too cumberous to transport over the 
mountains. It was an attempt by the government to guard 
the river approaches during the Revolution. It was dis¬ 
mantled about 1798. The heavy stones remain still and 
some of the guns which made its armament are stuck as 
posts at street corners along the river front. The site of a 
new fort to displace this one was selected by General Wash- 


30 


THE ROMANCE OF 


ington on a knoll nearly opposite Mt. Vernon—Fort Wash¬ 
ington. 

“Washington's Own'’ Company 

An artillery company was gathered in June, 1798 
“The Independent Blues”—under William Harper, captain, 
to get ready for the expected war with France. They were 
drilled in Market Square, and Washington’s last military 
order was given this company from Gadsby’s by the newly 
made “Lieutenant General George Washington.” Two 
members of this company, William Gregory and George 
Davis, lived till 1875 and 1877, respectively, and enjoyed 
the distinction for years of being the sole members of 
'‘Washington’s Own ” company. 

Battery Rogers 

“Battery Rogers,” some years since dismantled, stood 
a few hundred yards above the Point , and was made during 
the Civil War a strong earthwork—during the occupation 
of Alexandria by Federal troops. 

The pillory stood near the jail on the square, but a 
writer of the day says he never saw anybody in the pillory 
except a negro boy, punished for killing a child on the street 
of the town by careless driving. The whipping post occu¬ 
pied a conspicuous place likewise on Market Square. The 
executioner of such sentences was known as “Bobtail 
Bowie,” who administered a lecture between stripes and 
permitted boys to throw rotten eggs at the prisoner. 

Daniel Morgan 

Tradition says that, among others publicly whipped 
was none other than Daniel Morgan, then a wagoner under 
Braddock, but who afterwards became famous as a Revolu¬ 
tionary cavalrv general. and over whose dust the govern¬ 
ment has erected a monument in Winchester Cemetery. 
The Alexandria “Commons” witnessed political gatherings 
before and after the Revolution, and famous preachers of 
that day discoursed here to large audiences. The Court and 
the Town Council were called together by the ringing of a 
bell suspended on three posts. Previous to the installation 
of this bell notice was given by the Town Sergeant, who 
made his proclamation by the beating of a drum. The 
Court House constituted the municipal building. Market 
Square was indeed the arena for the military training of 
men who played an heroic part in changing the ideals of 
the Old World, and thus stamping the New World. 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


33 


Significant Balls 

• . e ^ ar S’ement it entered upon an era of great 

focml and political importance. Once it was the scene of 
the famous “Birthnight Balls,” in honor of the King and 
which were first instituted here. Washington danced 
at these balls in honor of royalty with no feeling of dis¬ 
loyalty to country. These were superseded in 1798 by the 
icty first celebration of Washington’s birthday, with Wash¬ 
ington present. From the doorstep of this tavern Washing- 
ton gave his very last military order to the “Independent 
Blues, just before his death. A French teacher visiting 
this country in 1801 speaks of Gadsby’s Tavern as “the best 
m the United States.” Washington frequently took a meal 
at Gadsby’s when in Alexandria, and gave his last order for 
dinner in these words, after having been assured that there 
was a good store of canvas-back ducks: “Very good, sir, 
give me some of them with a chafing dish, some hominy, 
and a bottle of good Madeira and we shall not complain.” 

Here died the celebrated actress of that day, Anne 
Warren, then filling an engagement at the well-known the¬ 
atre, “Liberty Hall,” on Cameron street, just opposite the 
tavern. She was called the “Ornament of the American 
Stage,” and was cousin of the likewise famous Joseph Jef¬ 
ferson. Her interment in 1808 was one of the last in old 
Christ Church yard. 

The “Female Stranger” 

The room in Gadsby’s in which the noted “Female 
Stranger” died, in 1816, is shown today. In St. Paul’s Epis¬ 
copal graveyard is to be found an iron railing surrounding 
a tomb upon which can be read the following inscription: 
“To the memory of a Female Stranger.” It is one of the 
unsolved mysteries of the world. The only facts known 
about this singular tomb is that in September, 1816, a gen¬ 
tleman, accompanied by a lady, very ill, arrived in Alexan¬ 
dria and put up at Gadsby’s. The husband was very taci¬ 
turn and gave no information as to himself or his family. 
After the death of the lady he purchased a lot and erected 
the tomb, giving in payment drafts on England which were 
said to have been returned dishonored. He then disap¬ 
peared and was never again heard of, though some claimed 
that he had been seen in prison in the North. Upon that 
tomb he had inscribed these lines: 


34 


THE ROMANCE OF 


“How loved, how valu’d once avails thee not, 

To whom related or by whom begot, 

A heap of dust alone remains of thee, 

’Tis all thou art and all the proud shall be.” 

and this scripture: 

“To Him gave all the Prophets witness that through His 

name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission 

of sins.” 

Some conjecture that she was of royal blood, and an 
attempt was made in “Harpers” some years ago to connect 
her with the daughter of Aaron Burr, whom he mourned as 
lost at sea. 

Here LaFayette on his triumphal tour of America in 
1824, was entertained by Alexandria-Washington Lodge oi 
Masons. 

Gadsby’s today stands as a silent memorial of a passing 
procession of celebrities of a bygone* day, at a time when 
Alexandria was an outpost of civilization. 

i 

The Stabler-Leadbeater Drug Store 

This old store, corner of King and Fairfax Streets, was 
patronized by General Washington as shown by the old ac¬ 
count books, and it was popular with these celebrities 
through the years. At times Webster, Clay and Calhoun, 
“the great Triumvirate” in the Senate, were seen here con¬ 
versing earnestly, with an increasing crowd gathered to 
listen to the brilliant conversation. Probably they had just 
been entertained by Phineas Janney, Quaker, a large im¬ 
porter and merchant, whose home is that of the “Nurses” of 
the City Hospital, on South Washington Street. They had 
come over to test the wonderful wines which his ships have 
brought from the West Indies. 

A courier from the War Department found Col. Robert 
E. Lee in Leadbeater’s with an order commanding him to 
get in readiness to proceed to Harpers Ferry to deal with 
the John Brown Raid. Lee turned to the proprietor and 
read it to him, remarking that he feared it portended serious 
trouble between the North and South. 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


35 


VIII 

A CITY WHICH PUT PATRIOTISM ABOVE SELF 

INTEREST 

H ho dared to love their country, and be poor ”— 
Pope. 

LEXANDRIA had celebrated in Christ Church 
the departure of the last British “Redcoat” after 
the Revolution, but she was to witness his re¬ 
turn in the War of ’12. When that storm was 
approaching she made preparations for the con¬ 
tingency by raising a regiment of militia under Major Law¬ 
rence Hooff, Jr. The corporation of x41exandria, always 
loyal, loaned the general government $35,000.00 on condi¬ 
tion that it be expended on defenses below Alexandria, and 
the militia company was drawn off to the defense of Wash¬ 
ington City. 

Loyalty in War of 1812 

The defenses at Fort Washington, in charge of Captain 
Dyson, however, were voluntarily blown up, though the 
commanding officer was court-martialed. The able-bodied 
men and the guns were sent to Washington to protect that 
city, and the town was thus left without means of resist¬ 
ance. A small part of the militia of Alexandria, however, 
was said to have remained under Captain Griffith, and with 
their artillery fought the enemy’s fleet with six-pounders 
till the ammunition gave out. When Admiral Cockburn 
was asked about the treatment of Alexandria in case of sur¬ 
render he gave assurance that private property would be 
respected. Commodore Gordon drew the ships in line be¬ 
fore the city and one hour was given for decision. In the 
negotiations Gordon, with his staff, marched to the Mayor’s 
office, then standing near the northeast corner of Duke and 
Pitt streets. Colonel Charles Sims, the mayor, readily 
yielded his authority to British occupation. Plunder was 
indiscriminate but confined principally to flour, cotton and 
tobacco. The terms of surrender were considered very 
degrading. 




36 


THE ROMANCE OF 


Foolish Midshipmen 

Some stir was made at the wharf by two young cap¬ 
tains of the U. S. Navy (Porter and Creighton) who fool¬ 
ishly seized a midshipman and ran. Immediately the ships 
were prepared for action, and with probable disastrous con¬ 
sequences, but for Colonel Sims’ poise in placating the Brit¬ 
ish. He gave the impetuous officers a lecture, calling 
them cowards for fleeing. Colonel Sims later wrote in a 
letter that if that neckerchief had not broken and the mid¬ 
shipman had been killed or carried off, the town could not 
have been saved from destruction. Probably the Mayor’s 
suave diplomacy saved Alexandria from the fate of Wash¬ 
ington City. Years later, in the hurly-burly of politics in 
Andrew Jackson’s administration, another incident hap¬ 
pened at the Alexandria wharf. A certain Dr. Randolph 
believing that “Old Hickory” had unjustly expelled him as 
surgeon from the Navy, boarded the President’s yacht, lying 
here, and forcing himself in his private apartments, pulled 
Jackson’s nose. Before the officers knew what had hap¬ 
pened Randolph had fled beyond the reach of the law. The 
incident only added venom to the tongue of John Randolph 
of Roanoke, in his criticism of the administration in Con¬ 
gress. During the first occasion a launch from the British 
ship “Pender” accidentally sank, drowning several sailors, 
on the site of the Naval Torpedo Station. 

A Small Sea Fight 

After the destruction of the White House and the Cap¬ 
itol in Washington, a plan was perfected to prevent the 
escape of the frigates, loaded with plunder at Alexandria. 
Captain Porter, who previously commanded the “Essex,” 
evidently would retrieve the recent disgrace of running, and 
together with Captain Perry (afterwards Commodore Perry 
of Lake Erie fame) set up batteries at “White House,” an 
old building standing till recently below Mt. Vernon. Sharp¬ 
shooters were placed near. There was brisk firing at the 
fleet but the enemy got off without the loss of a vessel and 
returned to England. Only a cow was killed, and that ac¬ 
cidentally, by an American soldier who misconceived an 
order. 

In this war Alexandria was represented by nearly all 
her able-bodied citizens. There were four companies in 
service. The War of ’12 was not glorious but Alexandria 
played her part well. 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


0/7 

o i 


IX 

A HILL THAT JUST ESCAPED HAVING THE LEAD¬ 
ING CAPITOL OF THE WORLD 

14 here all are selfish, the sage is no better than the 
fool and only rather more dangerous — Frowde. 

Shooter’s Hill 

HE hill at the head of King street was probably 
named after Shooter’s Hill in London, concern¬ 
ing which Dickens makes reference in his “Tale 
of Two Cities.” It is to be held in mind that 
there is no Revolutionary history connected with 
the City of Washington save only that part known as 
Georgetown. It is claimed that the selection of the location 
of the new Federal City was largely the result of a political 
deal between the North and the South. By a favoring word 
from Washington the Nation’s Capital might have been 
placed at Alexandria. Indeed, Shooter’s Hill had been 
selected as the site of the Capitol building by James Madi¬ 
son, then chairman of the Congressional Committee of 
1793, appointed to name the site. Jefferson felt that this 
hill afforded one of the finest sites in the United States. 
Washington at that time was President and one of the 
richest men in the United States, owning property, still to 
be seen, on the northwest corner of Prince and Pitt streets, 
and likewise at the corner of Cameron and Pitt streets and 
all about Alexandria. Because of this fact he caused the 
Nation’s Capital to be placed on the Maryland side of the 
Potomac. 

Washington’s Unselfishness 

Though Washington loved Alexandria, yet even for her 
sake he would not allow a thing that might be a reflection 
on his unselfish patriotism. He had been bitterly assailed 
by Jefferson as desiring to centralize the power of the gen¬ 
eral government, and a new outbreak must be warded off 
by refusing to allow his large properties about Alexandria 
thus to be enhanced in value. Washington was known per¬ 
sonally to have superintended the building of the two frame 
houses, standing at the northwest corner of Prince and 
Pitt streets. It is to be noted that though Washington 




38 


THE ROMANCE OF 


showed a personal interest in improving this city, he never 
seems to have conceived the idea of laying out broad streets, 
nor indeed of placing houses, with yards about them, but 
the mistake was not repeated in Washington City. 

‘‘The Town House” 

There is an interesting tradition concerning Washing¬ 
ton’s “Town House” located on the now unoccupied site on 
the south side of Cameron street a little west of Pitt, to the 
effect that when Lord Dunmore was ravaging the Potomac 
with his war vessels, Washington seriously contemplated 
moving his family to Alexandria, and enlarging the “Town 
House” sufficiently for the comfort of his family, to escape 
possible danger from the exposed position of Mt. Vernon. 
General Gage, who knew Alexandria well, urged the capture 
of both Alexandria and Mt. Vernon, but Lord North’s gov¬ 
ernment never favored making war on Washington per D 
sonally, as its military officials did on Jefferson then Gov¬ 
ernor of Virginia; since the hope was still strong that the 
government might enter into negotiations with this influen¬ 
tial man to save the Colonies to the Crown of England. But 
certainly Washington gave his unalterable decision against 
royalty as early as the spring of 1774. 

Washington frequently in his diary speaks of spending 
the night in his “Town House” oh Cameron street. He slept 
here and took breakfast next morning at half past six, with 
his cousin, Mrs. Anne McCarty Ramsay, just before leaving 
for Philadelphia where he was to be offered command of the 
American forces. The widow of George A. Washington, 
nephew of the General, occupied the “Town House” till her 
marriage to Tobias Lear, Washington’s private secretary, 
after which they moved to Wellington, about 3 miles below 
Alexandria. 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


39 


X 

A MEETING HOUSE WHICH RECALLS THE NON¬ 
CONFORMISTS 

C alvinistn established a religion without a prelate, a 
government without a King ” — Bancroft. 


The Presbyterian Meeting House 

HIS building on South Fairfax street was con¬ 
structed in 1774, though restored in the next 
century after a fire. Before that time the Pres¬ 
byterians held their meetings in the “Assembly 
Hall,” located on the site of the present Clerk’s 
Office. This present building contained the first steeple in 
the city, and the members held their services under a license 
from the County Court, having subscribed to the conditions 
imposed for worship. It was required that their doors be 
opened and remain open. Presbyterianism was founded 
here before the incorporation of the town, with a charter 
under the Toleration Act. Contributions were made to this 
and other non-conforming buildings by Washington, and he 
sometimes attended their services. 

Conformity 

It must not be forgotten that the Scotch immigrant 
was a most important factor in pushing back the boundaries 
of civilization from the Chesapeake. He established him¬ 
self all along the foothills of the Alleghanies. The Carlyles, 
the Craiks, the Ramsays came to Alexandria with the tide 
of immigration. The congregation of Presbyterians in 
Alexandria were granted no special favors save only to be 
allowed to hold meetings in the Town Hall. There was no 
contest with the authorities, as in England, concerning sub¬ 
mission to the “orders and constitution of the Church of 
England and the laws therein established.” It is to be re¬ 
membered that the Presbyterian Church was the established 
church in Scotland, whence they had come. They were 
willing to conform in Alexandria. 

In October, 1790, an Act was passed by the General 
Assembly authorizing a lottery “to raise the sum of 500 
pounds to complete the building of the church in Alexandria 





40 


THE ROMANCE OF 


for the use of the members of the Presbyterian Society," 
and thereto is appended a list of the managers of said lot¬ 
tery. 


Conspicuous Names 

The old graveyard of the “Meeting House” is of 
especial interest. Here lies, under the church floor, the 
body of Dr. James Muir, who officiated at Washington’s 
funeral, as chaplain of the Alexandria Lodge of Masons. 
Here lies the body of John Carlyle (Braddock’s Quarter¬ 
master) ; and possibly his son, who lost his life at Eutaw 
Springs, S. C., fighting for the Colonies in the Revolution. 
(Alexandria was little troubled with Tories). Here reposes 
the dust of the grand old surgeon-soldier, Dr. James Craik, 
one of the most intimate personal friends of Washington in 
Alexandria, who followed his fortunes from the beginning 
of the Revolution to Yorktown. Among the outstanding 
names of persons buried here are the Hepburns, Logans, 
Lindsays, Douglases, Hunters, Ramsays, Allisons, Balfours, 
Cranstons, .Kincaids and Kennedys. It is doubtful whether 
any spot in Alexandria contains so many sacred associa¬ 
tions. 

This church was made necessary by the many Scotch 
Presbyterians who early settled in Alexandria. It was at 
first under the jurisdiction of the Northern Presbytery, till 
about fifteen years ago, when it was turned over to the 
Presbyterians of the South. It ought to be preserved as 
one of the sacred memorials of the heroic days of our coun¬ 
try, as well as a monument to the sturdy Calvanists who 
stood against George III, as their predecessors had stood 
against Charles I. 


Covenanters 

It ought never to be forgotten that the Scotch Cove¬ 
nanters had always resisted religious tyranny in Eng¬ 
land and that Presbyterians were largely in sympathy 
with the Roundheads. In the contest between Charles I and 
his Parliament, the Presbyterians (or Puritans as they were 
called) had a parliamentary majority. When Cromwell 
took charge of'Virginia the Scotch form of worship was 
sanctioned here. These two churches in Alexandria, how¬ 
ever, always were in the heartiest accord, Carlyle and 
others having rented pews in Christ Church. Some promi- 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


41 


nent members of Christ Church attended here for a time 
after the Revolution, though Washington was not among 
them. 



SS aH 





‘ ‘T H E PR E S B YT E RIAN M EET I N G HOU S E ’ ’ 

(Now First Presbyterian Church) Fairfax St. between Duke and \\ olfe 












42 


THE ROMANCE OF 


XI 

A BURGHER WHO BECAME THE WORLD’S FIRST 

CITIZEN 

“Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow zvorld 
“Like a Colossus, and we petty men 
“Walk under his huge legs and peep about 
“To find ourselves dishonorable graves 

—S hak es peare. 


Washington, the Boy 

LEXANDRIA was the home town of George 
Washington, and as a young man he was fre¬ 
quently to be seen on her streets riding a spirited 
colt. All the traditions are of a tall, wiry, sun¬ 
burned young man always on horseback. Before 
he was fifteen he had conceived a passion for some unknown 
beauty, so serious as to make him unhappy, according to 
his own letters. This “Lowland Beauty,” is now known as 
Miss Betsy Fauntleroy, who lived fifteen miles below “Wake¬ 
field.” He complains of his “poor, restless heart, wounded 
by Cupid’s dart.” Before his marriage, probably at the 
time he wrote of the “Lowland Beauty,” he frequently at¬ 
tended social functions at the home of his cousin, William 
Ramsay, in the house now standing at the northeast corner 
of King and Fairfax streets. 

Washington, the Man 

John Nitingill, an old gravedigger, who died in 1863, 
often recalled for his friends the dignified and stately tread 
of “The General” upon the streets. He used to say that 
the small boys viewed the great man with reverence and 
awe. Washington always declared that he voted for 
“measures, not men.” Alexandria was his post office, his 
place of voting and his market. When his last vote was cast 
in the old Court House, some citizens of Alexandria, when 
they saw his difficulty in ascending the front steps, eagerly 
reached out and assisted him to the polls. The last vote 
cast by Washington was for Col. Levin Powell, for Congress. 




HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


48 


Washington’s Vision for Alexandria 

It ought to be said that Washington was willing to go 
to any limit m helping Alexandria to a higher vision in 
ma erial prosperity, but it ought also to be recorded that 
Alexandria s citizens did not respond as they ought, as 
witness the wandering at will of hogs and geese upon her 
streets till November, 1773, when public notice was given 
that any person had liberty to kill swine running at large. 
He interested himself in the establishment of a great canal 
which should connect his home town with the Ohio Valley. 
As trustee of the city he would project its future on pro- 



OLD FRIENDSHIP FIRE ENGINE 

gressive lines. Indeed, he took pride in every mark of pro¬ 
gressive spirit and honored Alexandria to the day of his 
death, by magnifying every little courtesy she extended. 
He was so much interested in making this a first- 
class market that he furnished vegetables from his own 
garden at Mt. Vernon, much to the disgust of his close 
friends. He demanded that the weights and measures be 
tested by the standard scales, still to be seen in the City 
Hall. 

Friendship Fire Company 

Washington did more than any other in laying the 
foundation for the present very efficient fire department. 




44 


THE ROMANCE OF 


When he was a member of the Continental Congress 
in Philadelphia in 1774, he purchased and presented to the 
Friendship Fire Company, the very best engine than made. 
They elected him honorary captain, and in the very last year 
of his life (1799), happening to be in the city when a fire 
was in progress near the market, he leaped from his horse 
and helped pump the engine. Seeing a party of gentlemen 
looking on, he said: “Why are you idle, gentlemen? It is 
your business to lead in such matters.” 

Washington was for a time member of the City Board 
of Trustees, 1766). Washington had an exalted sense of 
civic pride and did all in his power to make this city a model 
municipality. 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


45 


XII 

AN OLD JAIL CONNECTED WITH THE STRUGGLE 

FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 

“ ( Ay e > CQ U it h°h ground, 

“The soil where once they trod! 

They have left unstained what there they found — 
l 1 f eedout to worship God. ’’ — Mrs. Memans 

E may see the spot where the jail stood, and a 
picture of it is to be found in this book. It was 
built in 1753 and was used for convicts and 


French prisoners captured on the Western bor¬ 
der. It stood on the site of the present Police 
Headquarters, on North Fairfax Street. 


Jeremiah Moore 

But curiously this old jail was used to imprison a well- 
known preacher of that period—Jeremiah Moore, once lay- 
leader in the Church of England at Acquia Creek. Though 
other itinerant preachers were willing, in Washington’s 
home town, to subscribe to the Established Religion and 
obey the law against non-conformists, this man refused. 
The vestrymen of Fairfax Parish, who had been elected by 
freeholders, seemed determined to exercise civil and re- 
ligious authority, and no one thought of questioning a law 
of the Virginia Assembly, enacted in 1643. The law which 
Jeremiah Moore flagrantly violated, reads as follows: “All 
ministers should be conformable to the orders and constitu¬ 
tions of the Church of England and the laws therein estab¬ 
lished, and not otherwise to be permitted to teach or preach 
publicly or privately.” One day some members of the 
vestry and the rector found Moore preaching near Alexan¬ 
dria and arrested him for “preaching the Gospel without 
license.” The mittimus (to the authorities) has been found: 
“I send you, herewith, the body of Jeremiah Moore who is 
a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a stroller." 

Union of Church and State 

It ought to be said that the Establishment represented 
the union of Church and State, and that civil jurisdiction 



46 


THE ROMANCE OF 


had been forced upon the church in return for financial sup¬ 
port. Sometimes a rector was found who had little vision. 
Drastice measures were taken and Jeremiah Moore felt 
the heavy weight of his former connection, and he was told: 
“You shall lie in jail till you rot, or obey the law.” All other 
non-conformist preachers obeyed the law but the young 
preacher stood firmly against a law which permitted such 
an outrage, and rather than retract, he remained in jail and 
preached, like Bunyan, through the latticed door. He at¬ 
tracted crowds by the very novelty of the situation. Wash¬ 
ington and Mason frequently came to Alexandria, and must 
have known of his imprisonment. No protest could be made 
against a well-understood law.* (It is not unlikely this de¬ 
termined young preacher felt that by remaining in jail the 
question of religious liberty would not be ignored in the 
issues of the Revolution.). 

Patrick Henry 

But a significant thing happened: Patrick Henry, who 
at that time was in frequent communication with Wash¬ 
ington (on the authority of a well-grounded tradition in the 
Moore family) was brought to Alexandria for the defense 
of Moore. Col. Charles Broadwater, neighbor and friend 
to Jeremiah Moore and likewise to Washington, was then 
Justice of the Peace. Mr. Henry is said to have made, prob¬ 
ably in the Court House nearby, a great impassioned speech, 
using these traditional words: “Great God, gentlemen, a 
man in prison for preaching the gospel of the Son of God!” 
Moore was released and told he would not be disturbed 
again. 

Memorial of Imprisonment 

The record of this event is not to be found in the vestry 
book of Fairfax Parish, vet in 1803 Jeremiah Moore founded 
the First Baptist Church of this city as a memorial of his 
imprisonment, and there has been placed upon the walls of 
that church a tablet to his memory, appropriately inscribed. 
Moore was first pastor of this church in 1803. 


* Certainly these and many other great leaders of the Episcopal 
Church later were chiefly instrumental in writing religious liberty into 
the Constitution. 



HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


47 


It^ is probable that Washington heard of Patrick 
Henry s speech and that the question of Religious Liberty 
became a vital one in the minds of Washington and Mason 
and other leaders thereafter. The next year (July, 1774) 
the same J airfax freeholders came together in the old Court 
House, where Moore was tried for preaching, on Market 
Square. The famous case against the “Parsons” had al¬ 
ii eady been won by Mr. Henry, in which the contention was 
successfully carried against the support of the “Parsons” by 
the dissenters. 


Specious Religious Liberty 

About seven miles below Alexandria are the frowning 
battlements of Fort Washington. At the foot of the 
heights, just under the walls where the waters of the Pisca- 
taway enter the Potomac, as early as 1634, Governor Cal¬ 
vert with 200 followers of Roman Catholic gentlemen came 
to raise the standard of old England and to proclaim the 
Catholic faith. Later, as a matter of discretion he de¬ 
scended the Potomac and entered the river now called St. 
Mary’s. So in March, 1634, under the authority of a Protes¬ 
tant English king, religious tolerance (not religious liberty), 
then obtained a home, the only home in the world. 

Tories in Alexandria 

It is curious that at this meeting proclaiming the “Fair¬ 
fax Co. Resolves” a letter was passed, written by Bryan 
Fairfax in opposition to the avowed purpose of the meeting. 
Indeed, the few Tories in Alexandria were under his leader¬ 
ship. Washington was so influenced by personal esteem for 
the man that he actually urged him to become his associate 
as delegate to the Patriotic Convention at Williamsburg, and 
opposed Colonel Broadwater, who was an outspoken advo¬ 
cate of resistance. Washington afterwards wrote Fairfax 
concerning this letter: “As no person seemed in the least 
disposed to adopt your sentiments, and as gentlemen ad¬ 
vised me not to read it . I forebore to offer it.” 

Moore was thus forcing the issue for a principle 
which should eventuate in the first amendment to the Con¬ 
stitution. Similar occurrences were witnessed in the jails 
of Fredericksburg, Culpeper, Warrenton, and in many coun¬ 
ties of Virginia and religious liberty became a live question. 

The old jail later witnessed the incarceration of the 


-48 


THE ROMANCE OF 


Hessian prisoners who surrendered at Yorktown, and whom 
the city employed, pending- final disposition, to pave the 
streets of Alexandria with cobblestones. The old jail like¬ 
wise held the prisoners of the French and Indian War. it 
thus held those who fought for liberty, and those who 
fought against it. 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


49 


XIII 

PHYSICIANS WHOSE CAPACITY FOR FRIENDSHIP 

IMMORTALIZED THEM 

Great souls by instinct to each other turn. 

Demand alliance and in friendship burn." 

— Addison. 


Dr. Craik—a Faithful Achates 



ASHINGTON gave his confidences to but few, 
and tradition tells of some, near here who be¬ 
trayed those confidences, but the story is not 
pleasant to relate. The first Lord Fairfax will 
always be conspicuous in history on account of 
his friendship for Washington. There lived a man at 210 
Duke street who, in his intimate association with Washing¬ 
ton as a friend, likewise never faltered. This Dr. James 
Craik was a Scotchman and a physician, and saw the human 
side of the immortal man. He had nursed Washington, 
sick, on the ill-fated Braddock expedition into the Ohio Val¬ 
ley, and thereby Washington was able to retrieve somewhat 
the disaster in the South which the British suffered against 
the French at Great Meadows. When Washington was ap¬ 
pointed Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Forces he pre¬ 
vailed upon Dr. Craik to leave his practice and his family 
to attempt with him a hazardous undertaking. 

Dr. Craik’s friendship for Washington carried him 
into untold sacrifices throughout the period of the Revolu¬ 
tion. This great-hearted physician had charge of the hos¬ 
pital at Yorktown, and though the evidence is not entirely 
clear, he is said to have been made by Washington the first 
Surgeon General of the United States Army. One thing is 
sure, this man knew Washington intimately in his personal 
life, and it was he who reported that, in the disastrous 
defeat of Braddock, Washington escaped, as he believed, 
only by the “protecting care of a great over-ruling Provi¬ 
dence.” When the Revolution was over Washington rode 
with his “Faithful Achates” over the route of that ill-fated 
expedition. W r hat must have been recalled in the intimacy 
of such a friendship! Very often afterwards, during many 
years, Washington mentions visiting with “my old friend, 


50 


THE ROMANCE OF 


Dr. Craik.” Indeed, he claimed the privilege of educating' 
Dr. Craik’s son. 


Was It Discourtesy? 

When an unnamed young man was studying medicine 
in the office of this veteran and distinguished surgeon of 
the Revolution, a stranger to the student came to visit the 
physician. He arrived in a handsome coach, with every 
mark of wealth, “dressed in a velvet suit and carrying a 
short stick in his hand.” The youth admitted the stranger 
and showed him every courtesy, as to a patient. There was 
a lively conversation "for an hour or so. When the stranger 
had gone the youth asked who it was, and Dr. Craik replied: 
“Don’t you know? Why, that is the greatest man in the 
world. That is General Washington, and he was particu¬ 
larly impressed by your courtesy.” 

It has been claimed by a descendant of this young man 
that this story has been idealized, in order to soften the 
real facts of the case, and that on the other hand the young 
man kept his seat, with his feet elevated, when Washington 
entered the office of his old friend, and Washington made 
some reflections on the boy’s impolite manner, which he 
requested should be conveyed to the boy by Dr. Craik. 

When Washington knew he was dying, Craik was at 
his bedside, and Washington said to him: “Doctor, I die 
hard but I am not afraid to go.” Craik pressed his hand 
but could not utter a word. 

• Dr. Dick 

The home of Washington’s family physician,* Dr. 
Elisha Dick, is still standing at 209 Prince street, and his of¬ 
fice building is still to be seen at 508 Queen street, whither 
it had been moved some years ago. Dr. Dick was a Pennsyl¬ 
vanian and at first was said to be infidel in his views, though 
he was a nominal member of the Church of England. One 
day he saw the “new light” of Fox and became a Quaker. 
It is said that he proceeded at once to the banks of the 
Potomac and threw his duelling pistols into the water. This 
“pacifist” volunteered, however, to follow “Light Horse 
Harry” Lee against the “Whiskey Rebellion” in his native 


* If the advice of Dr. Dick had been followed in Washington’s last 
illness, bleeding would not have been practiced and his life prolonged. 



HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


51 


state. He is buried in an unmarked grave in the Quaker 
Cemetery on Queen near Washington street. He was Mas¬ 
ter of the Masonic Lodge at the funeral of Washington, and 
likewise a loyal friend to the “Father of his Country.” 

Washington became closely attached to this stalwart 
character who had real convictions of duty and who swerved 
not at any cost to act upon them. It was he as Master of 
the Lodge who stood aside and placed the trowel in the 
hand of Washington, who thus laid the cornerstone of the 
"National Capitol. 



b 


o 


THE ROMANCE OF 





J'f 


r~r- '■■■,■: 
& / fS5$S5§ 


Wf» - b}.\ tf-joiog/ri 


■v •SSWfP'Pffi?' 


THE HOME OF DR. CRAIK 
Duke Street, Between Fairfax and Lee 





















HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 



XIV 


ALEXANDRIA HONORING AN OLD-WORLD 
FRIEND OF LIBERTY 


“' rhe remaining liberty of ike world was to be de¬ 
stroyed in the place -where it stood”—Lucan. 


A FAYETTE received great ovations in Alexan¬ 
dria during his tours of 1784 and of 1824, on 
the first occasion Washington participating and 
showing the tenderest tokens of affection." The 
very first time that LaFayette saw Alexandria, 
m 1777 on his way to join Washington’s army, he was 
entertained at Gadsby’s, and on his last visit in 1824 he 



was entertained in the house now standing on the southwest 
corner of Duke and St. Asaph streets, which may well be 
a memorial to this heroic lover of liberty in America, and 
as well a memorial to this same martyr to human liberty 
later in Europe, for LaFayette lay in an Austrian dungeon 
for some time and Washington used his influence to secure 
his release. Alexandria made elaborate preparations in 
1784 for entertaining this noble friend of Washington who 
had passed away a quarter of a century before. 


LaFayette and Liberty 

It is always to be remembered that a Revolution in 
France had taken place between the two visits of LaFayette 
and in it he was one of the chief actors. lie was like Wash¬ 
ington, the friend of ordered liberty, and he received the 
abuse of the friends of hereditarv rule on the one hand and 
on the other of sanguinary Jacobins or Bolshevists. The 
opening scenes of the French Revolution promised the erec¬ 
tion of a Republic in Europe and the consequent recognition 
of the rights of man over the world, and this was the 
earnest purpose of this friend of Washington. LaFayette 
would have saved fair France from the foul tragedy that 
followed. 

Indeed this marvelous patriot submitted, in the Na¬ 
tional Assembly, a “declaration of rights” and probably the 
sentiment of it was borrowed from Mason and Jefferson. 
The people rose in insurrection and levelled the Bastile, the 
key of which was sent by him to Washington at Mt. Vernon. 





54 


THE ROMANCE OF 


It was LaFayette who coolly faced the mob in Paris in a 
vain effort to save from the guillotine Louis XVI and Marie 
Antoinette. When Napoleon came to a place of power he 
would have made LaFayette one of a new order of peers, 
but this he declined because it was opposed to his concep¬ 
tion of liberty. . ' 

It was Benjamin Franklin who had aided the English 
General Braddock in the French and Indian War in the con¬ 
ference in the Carlyle House, who was now commissioner 



in France aiding LaFayette in his desire to help free 
the American Colonies from the yoke of England. LaFay¬ 
ette was willing to expose his entire property to confiscation 
by the laws of France, to be placed under the category of 
criminal against the law's of Great Britain and an offender 
against those of his own country. Vessels were dispatched 
with orders to arrest him in the West Indies. He consid¬ 
ered the cause of America “not only just but sacred.” 

LaFayette was visibly affected by every memory of 
this “Burgher of Alexandria.” An arch was placed on 










HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


55 


Washington street, just in front of the Methodist Protes¬ 
tant Church, and Virginia sent great crowds to greet him. 
Just as LaFayette passed under the arch an American eagle, 
placed on the top of it, spread its wings and gave a loud 
screech, which must have impressed the famous French¬ 
man. Later it became known that a boy was concealed in 
the arch with the pleasant duty of sticking a pin in the 
eagle at the opportune time. 

General Roberdeau 

A companion-at-arms of LaFayette, General Rober¬ 
deau, may have been present on that occasion. His father 
had been driven from France, as a Huguenot, by the “Edict 
of Nantes,” to the West Indies, and the son had responded 
to the call of liberty and was invited to join Washington’s 
staff. He was a Member of Congress in 1777-79, and had 
built a home at 418 South Lee street after the Revolution. 
It is said that the officer in command of the famous “Louisi¬ 
ana Tigers” in the Civil War was a direct descendant of 
Roberdeau. The married daughter of General Roberdeau 
lived at “Colross,” one of the typical colonial residences to 
be seen in Alexandria- 







r ‘ A • ’ 

■ ■ _sd 


S ; 

- 


■ 

. 


• A'- AC - V:. • L 


“COLROSS”, Oronoco Street between Henry and Fayette Streets 












56 


THE ROMANCE OF 


XV 

A FAMILY WHICH VIRGINIA WILL NEVER ALLOW 

TO BE FORGOTTEN 

“Who hath not ozvn'd, with rapture-smitten frame, 

“The power of grace, the magic of a name.” 

— Campbell. 


“Light Horse Han v” 

HIS old city has been closely associated with the 
famous Lee family of Virginia, established here 
for three centuries. Though most of the out¬ 
standing men of Virginia lived upon estates, yet 
branches of this family lived here at various 
time. After Washington’s death General Henry Lee (“Light 
Horse Harry”) came to Alexandria from “Stratford” in 
Westmoreland County (1811), in order to educate his chil¬ 
dren. (Queen Anne had built “Stratford” for his ancestor, 
Col. Thomas Lee, a distinguished officer of the Realm). But 
of course the old hero was interested in events rapidly 
leading up to the second war with England. He occupied 
at various times several houses, but certainly he dwelt in 
what is now the rectory of Christ Church, at 111 Oronoco 
street, and also at 611 Cameron street. He was an ardent 
Federalist and warmly defended his old Chief against the 
political attacks of Jefferson and others, and he was Wash¬ 
ington’s Cavalry General. (Some have compared him to 
Stonewall Jackson). 



Bootlegging 

In 1794, during Washington’s administration, the fa¬ 
mous Whiskey Rebellion broke out in Western Pennsyl¬ 
vania. The Bootleggers of that day were treating with 
contempt a law passed by Congress that year, as they do 
now. The Federal government might have dallied with 
what was rapidly becoming a menace of lawlessness. “Light 
Horse Harry” Lee was then Governor of Virginia, and 
Washington persuaded his old cavalry general to command 
a body of militia with orders to suppress this mob rule. 
The military argument was effective and the insurgents dis¬ 
persed at the magic name of the old veteran. 




HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


57 


This man delivered the most famous eulogy on Wash¬ 
ington at his death, in the German Lutheran Church, Phila¬ 
delphia, using the expression: “First in war, first in peace, 
first in the hearts of his countrymen.” When the tide of 
political passion was running strong against the Federalists 
this great soldier went to Baltimore to protect an editor 
against the threats of a mob, and suffered such bodily in- 



HOME OF “LIGHT HOUSE HA HUY” LEE, (111 Cameron Street 


jury thereby as ultimately to bring on his death, in defense 
of the liberty of the press. Traveling for his health, he died 
in Georgia, though his body reposes now at Washington and 
Lee University in Lexington, in his loved State. When he 
died he left a young son who was destined to be immortal— 
Robert E. Lee —whose mother carried him to live at 111 
Oronoco street (near Washington street). 













58 


THE ROMANCE OF 


Robert E. Lee 

Probably because of his father’s influence, Robert E. 
Lee, having secured an appointment to West Point, received 
his first training at the Public Academy on South Washing¬ 
ton street at the rear of Washington School, which con¬ 
tained a department for orphans of Revolutionary soldiers 
(and was founded by Washington from his private purse). 
Lee later attended Hallowed School, where many distin¬ 
guished Virginians received their training. The son be- 



WASHINGTON FREE SCHOOL. Washington and Wolfe Streets 


came such an ardent States’ Rights advocate that Virginia 
claimed his first consideration. Lee, then a young Federal 
colonel living at Arlington, attended Christ Church, which 
he knew so well as a boy, and his wife was directly de¬ 
scended from the Widow Custis, who, as Washington’s wife, 
often attended with him Christ Church, after the Revolu¬ 
tion. Lee was confirmed at Christ Church in 1853. It was 
while stopping at the Lloyd House (southwest corner of 
Washington and Queen streets) as was his custom, that he 







HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


59 


learned of the commission of the Virginia Legislature of¬ 
fering him the command of the Army of Virginia. 

A delegation of gentlemen came from Richmond to 
persuade him to place his sword at the service of the State, 
and met him after service in Christ Church, that fateful 
Sunday. They stood there a long time in earnest conversa¬ 
tion with Robert E. Lee, who the day before had resigned 
his commission in the United States Army. The ordinance 



EARLY HOME OF ROBT. E. LEE, Oronoco and St. Asaph 


of secession of Virginia had just passed, and “Rooney” (W, 
II. F.) Lee (his son), had been heard to say the day before 
that the State had made a “terrible mistake,” though the 
people were jubilant. Second in interest to “what will 
Virginia do?” was “What will General Lee do?” That 
morning in April was decided the issue of a mortal struggle , 
as much more terrible than any known to the din of battle 
as the human soul is greater than shot and shell. The 
Alexandria Riflemen had just passed resolutions to the 












60 


THE ROMANCE OF 


effect: “Our first allegiance is due * * * to Virginia.’ 
Christ Church had long before witnessed another decision, 
momentous in the history of America, for Washington is 
said to have stood on the same spot consulting with Colonial 
leaders just before he was offered the position of Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Colonial-Forces. 

Just in front of the War Department may be seen the 
house where Lee was offered (not long before his resigna¬ 
tion from the Army), the position of Commander-in-Chief 


of the Federal Forces. Dr. Randolph McKim, the rector, 
preached a striking memorial sermon on Lee, in Christ 
Church, at the time of Lee’s death. General Lee’s brother, 
Captain Sidney Smith Lee, lived at 111 Oronoco street (with 
his father, “Light Horse Harry” Lee), and resigned from 
the United States Navy likewise to join the navy of the 
Confederacy. Sidney Smith Lee was father of a boy who 
was destined to play his part in the Civil War, and likewise 
to become famous in the Spanish War —Fitzhugh Lee (who 
later lived at 219 North Washington street). 


Fitzhugh Lee 

He was confirmed in Christ Church and sang in the 
choir for many years. He happened to be Consul-General 
at Havana, and controlled there an exceedingly delicate and 
dangerous situation, when the battleship “Maine” was 
blown up. This brigadier general of the Confederacy now 
becomes a Major General of the Federal army in the 
Spanish war. 

So we have the remarkable spectacle of three men of 
the Lee family, of three generations, at times residents of 
Alexandria, standing forth prominently in crucial periods 
of our history. “Light Horse Harry,” Washington’s “right 
arm” in the Revolution; Robert E. Lee, who conquered 
America by his splendid character, in spite of military de¬ 
feat; and Fitzhugh Lee, who had a conspicuous part in 
ridding the Western world of the last remnants of the 
tyranny of the land of Pizarro and Cortez. (Perhaps it 
ought to be noted that Charles Lee, severely reprimanded 
by Washington for disobedience to orders, was in no way 
connected with the Lees of Virginia). 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


61 


XVI 


A CITY WHICH WAS VICTIM OF A SYSTEM 

“/ never mean, unless some particular circumstances 
should compel me to do it, to possess another slave h\ 
purchase, it being my first wishes to see some plan 
adopted by which slavery in this country may be 
abolished by law.” — Washington. 

The Shadow of Slavery 

HE institution of slavery as forced upon Virgin¬ 
ians by British rule, and the treatment of slaves 
in Colonial days was thoroughly repellant to 
Alexandrians. Before the Revolution an upris¬ 
ing of slaves against their masters had been 
summarily quelled and the heads of the slaves were long 
suspended upon spikes over the old jail, as a warning to all 
offenders among them. A townsman of Alexandria, George 
Mason, was soon to write in Virginia’s famous “Bill of 
Rights” that “all men are by nature equally free and inde¬ 
pendent,” and today this is part of her organic law. Im¬ 
mediately after the Revolution, in 1778, Mason, represent¬ 
ing Alexandria in the Burgesses, introduced a bill prohib¬ 
iting the further importation of slaves. Then laws were 
passed encouraging their gradual emancipation. When 
Alexandria later became part of the District of Columbia 
a benevolent society w r as formed here to promote their free¬ 
dom, and a petition to this effect, presented to Congress, 
was ignored. Men like Washington, Mason, Jeremiah 
Moore and others, would have liberated their slaves, but 
the problem was how not to make a bad matter worse, be¬ 
cause of no special provision for such under the law, al¬ 
though history records more than thirty thousand free 
negroes in Virginia in 1810. Henry Clay and other native 
Virginians were the founders of Liberia in 1816. 

The attempt of the “Old Dominion” to get out from 
under the dangerous slavery compromise written in the 
Constitution (against the protests of the representatives 
from Virginia in the Continental Congress) amounted to 
nothing. Alexandria’s voice was thus silenced and she 
must submit to the slave trade. 





62 


THE ROMANCE OF 


“Slave Pen” 

The building still standing at 1318 Duke street, and 
now known as “The Norman,” was used as a place to bring 
slaves preparatory to sale or hiring. Some citizens now 
living in Alexandria can recall these unhappy days. There 
were no such dispicable characters known in Alexandria, 
however, as those painted in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” The 
old “Slave Pen/’ as it was called, witnessed the fact that a 
system had been fostered by the Federal Government ren¬ 
dering local opposition vain, and the city authorities were 
submitting to it patiently. Slaves, however, were carefully 
trained in the truths of Christianity, as is witnessed by the 
many colored churches in Alexandria today. 

Virginia Over a Mine 

But Virginia had been dwelling over a mine from the 
days of Nat Turner to those of John Brown. In 1859 the 
“Alexandria Riflemen” escorted the Governor A of Virginia 
to Harpers Ferry to suppress the John Brown raid (an un¬ 
successful attempt to incite the negroes to insurrection and 
war upon their masters). The War Department at Wash¬ 
ington, realizing the lawlessness of a situation created by 
this fanatic, sent Col. Robert E. Lee, of the United States 
Army (and a townsman of Alexandria), to take charge of 
the desperate emergency. With Lee on this historic occa¬ 
sion was “Jeb” Stuart. Lee had little sympathy with 
slavery but still less with lawlessness. 

The slavery issue, thus forced on all Virginians, was 
to precipitate a conflict that made Virginia, unwillingly a 
great battle ground, which finally settled by the sword what 
she had attempted to settle in a peaceful manner long be¬ 
fore. 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


63 


XVII 

A CITY WHICH NEVER DODGED A PATRIOTIC 

DUTY 

“TJic brazen throat of zvar.”—Milton 


HE Confederate Soldiers’ Monument on South 
Washington street may be looked upon as typical 
of the martial spirit of Alexandria, in the great 
struggle for human liberty at various periods of 
our history. In every war of that history she 
promptly responded in men and resources, though “slack¬ 
ers” elsewhere were not uncommon even in the days of the 
Revolution. 

The French and Indian War 

Alexandrians were found among the “Virginia Rang¬ 
ers,” and at least two companies of Alexandria Militia made 
an imperishable record at Fort Duquesne under their be¬ 
loved Colonel Washington, whose headquarters was at 
Old City Tavern . The failure of Washington in these ex¬ 
peditions against the French caused the British Government 
to send General Braddock and Admiral Keppel to Alexan¬ 
dria. In accepting his commission as captain on Braddock’s 
staff Washington wrote: “I am not a little biased by 
selfish considerations, as I earnestly wish to attain some 
knowledge of the military profession.” This expedition 
contained a number of Alexandrians. Besides Washington 
w T ere Dr. Craik, John Carlyle and Daniel Morgan. The 
former Colonel of Virginia Militia, George Washington, had 
been demoted with other Colonials by Governor Dinwiddie, 
and now he was to save the British expedition in the South 
from complete annihilation. Very many Alexandrians did 
not return with him. Washington was honorary captain 
of the “Alexandria Blues,” and on the 20th of June, 1775, 
wrote them not to relax their discipline now that he was 
Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Forces. Indeed, he 
had spent days in 1775, in personally drilling independent 
companies for the Revolution on Market Square. Alexan¬ 
dria furnished her quota in that great conflict, though there 
was no fighting upon her streets strangely. After Brad- 
dock’s defeat it was commonly felt here that one Colonial 




64 


THE ROMANCE OF 


soldier was equal to three Redcoats. Washington himself 
wrote of the cowardice of the British regulars on that oc¬ 
casion, though they had once been highly regarded by the 
Colonies. 

Raising Money for the Revolution 

The old Ramsay House (cor. King and Fairfax streets), 
was the scene of much activity during the Revolution. 
Col. William Ramsay was too old to take active part in 
Revolutionary military operations, but he was intensely 
patriotic and used his technical knowledge in placing ob¬ 
structions in the Potomac River against England’s fleet. 
His wife, Mrs. Anne McCarty Ramsay, cousin of George 
Washington, was appointed treasurer of the town of Alex¬ 
andria and county, for the reception of money for the 
use of the soldiers, and an extant letter notes her sending 
more than seventy-five thousand dollars on one occasion, 
collected from the citizens of Alexandria and thereabout. 
Thomas Jefferson speaks of her as one of the patriotic 
women of Virginia. Her son, Col. Denis Ramsay, was an 
active officer in the Revolution and was pallbearer of his 
relative, George Washington. So it is to be noted that when 
the Continental Congress failed to furnish money, Mrs. 
Anne McCarty Ramsay rose to the emergency in Alexan¬ 
dria, as did Morris in Philadelphia. Her grandfather Mc¬ 
Carty was speaker of the Burgesses from 1715 to 1720. 

Expected War With France 

In 1798 there were eight military companies in Alex¬ 
andria, beside the “Black Cockades,” a company of half- 
grown boys. At least one additional company was formed 
in that year, with William Harper as captain, to prepare for 
expected war with their former ally, France. Washington 
allowed himself to be appointed Lieutenant General, and on 
his departure was given special honors by the militia of his 
home town. He gave his last military order the next year 
from the steps of Gadsby’s to the militia of Alexandria. 
(It was from the steps of the Old City Tavern that, at 
the age of 23, he had received his commission as Colonel 
of the Virginia Militia, and two years later he made this his 
headquarters, when commissioned a Major on Braddock’s 
staff). The “Alexandria Blues” had a conspicuous part at 
his funeral, and were under Captain Henry Piercy (Col. 
George De Neale was in command of the militia). 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


65 


In the second war with England Alexandria raised 
com Panies, with artillery, for the protection of 
Washington; and Alexandria troops under Captain Griffith 
fought the enemy fleet bravely with six-pounders till their 
ammunition gave out. 


Mexican War 

the “Alexandria Volunteers” in the Mexican 
War returned, under Capt. M. D. Corse , whose home still 
stands at 414 North Washington street. In the Civil War 
Captain Corse became colonel of the 17th Virginia Regiment 
and Brigadier-General in Pickett’s Division. The fame of 
the gallant “17th Virginia ” was honored throughout all the 
State. Kemper's Battery likewise won enduring fame at 
Manassas. The blood of Alexandria’s soldiers stained many 
a battlefield. 


Civil War 

The Confederate Monument (Washington and Prince 
streets) was erected to the memory of the Alexandria sol¬ 
diers who fell in a struggle for what they conceived to be 
a correct interpretation of the Constitution. They had 
started for the front from this very spot of May 24, 1861, 
and they had never faltered in following their own Robert 
E. Lee. The monument contains a beautiful bronze figure 
of a Confederate soldier looking toward his beloved South, 
and it is very significantly called “Appomattox.” 

Spanish War 

The “Alexandria Light Infantry” entrained on Henry 
street for the Spanish-American War. The same company 
entrained from the same place for the great World War , 
and, together with volunteers and drafted men, they re¬ 
ceived on their return a notable welcome in a special service 
held in Old Christ Church, participated in by all the minis¬ 
ters in Alexandria. The reputation of her sons for faith¬ 
fulness and courage had repeatedly been maintained in this 
greatest war of all history, fought to maintain the principle 
of human liberty. 


66 


THE ROMANCE OF 


XVIII 

WHERE THE DOGS OF WAR WERE UNLEASHED 

“And the stern joy which warriors feel 
“In foemen worthy of their steel." 

— W. Scott 

The Marshall House 

HE original walls of this historic building stand 
as in the days of the “irrepressible conflict.” 
Here was drawn the very first blood of the war, 
which attracted the attention of the entire coun¬ 
try to this spot. Relic hunters have been busy 
ever since because of the vital historical interest. 

Story of a Tragedy 

Alexandria was still in the hands of the Confederates, 
and both sides of the river were picketed, when one day 
President Lincoln and his Cabinet, with others, viewed the 
flag of the Confederacy floating defiantly from the roof of 
this building, in this old Colonial city across the Potomac. 

A curious story, well authenticated, hangs about this 
incident. When Lincoln was a struggling country lawyer 
he employed in his office a boy by the name of Ellsworth, to 
sweep out his office and to do other menial work. When the 
future President was called to larger fields of activity the 
man drifted to New York and became interested in military 
affairs. (Even before in the West he had gained reputation 
as a military officer and commanded a “crack” regiment 
which had a national fame.) He was elected Colonel of the 
New York Fire Zouaves, and soon after the beginning of 
the Civil Conflict the regiment was sent to Washington for 
the defense of the Capital City. Ellsworth had free access 
to the White House because of his former friendship with 
the President, and was in the company that day viewing the 
flag of defiance. He said to Mrs. Lincoln: “If the President 
will allow my regiment to enter Alexandria first, I will bring 
that flag to you as a souvenir.” The President gave con¬ 
sent to the request made by his wife. That flag was 
lowered, and on May 24, 1861, a silent move was made which 
resulted in the capture of Alexandria, whose occupation con¬ 
tinued during the period of the war. The New York 





HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


67 



MARSHALL HOUSE DURING THE WAR 
Ivina - and Pitt Streets 















































68 


THE ROMANCE OF 


“Zouaves,” with other regiments, reached the foot of Cam¬ 
eron street by water while nearly all of the inhabitants were 
wrapped in slumber. James Jackson, proprietor of the Mar¬ 
shall House, was determined not to lower the Confederate 
flag, but Colonel Ellsworth with a small squad of men pro- 
ceded to the roof of the building and returned with the 
emblem. A shot rang out and Ellsworth lay dead as the 
result of a shot fired by Jackson, who in turn was shot by 
the Federal soldiers. 

As a climax of this unfortunate episode Alexandria be¬ 
came for a time a place of unusual partisan bitterness. 

A Southern Sympathizer 

The then pastor of the First Baptist Church was Dr. 
C. C. Bitting, a Pennsylvanian by birth, but a sympathizer 
with the aspirations of the South, and lovingly recognized 
by such in the region round about. (He was for a time 
preacher for several congregations here). This pastor was 
subjected to many indignities, even in his family circle, and 
when raiding parties were sent out on the Virginia Midland 
Railroad the Federal authorities would frequently place Dr. 
Bitting and other leading citizens upon the “cow-catcher” 
of the train, knowing that the Confederates would not fire 
upon or wreck it. 


The Zouaves at Bull Run 

The command of the “Zouaves” after the death of Ells¬ 
worth developed upon Colonel Farnham. These rough fire¬ 
fighters from New York City were later to receive a baptism 
of fire at the “First Battle of Bull Run.” They stood face to 
face with the soldiers of Alexandria, who had retired upon 
their occupation of the city, and likewise face to face with 
the “Black Horse Cavalry,” commanded by General Payne 
(a direct descendant of the man who had the altercation 
with Washington concerning an election, before the Revolu¬ 
tion). In this terrific conflict, where “Stonewall” Jackson 
was immortalized, the “Zouaves” suffered greatly, and the 
remnants straggled back into Alexandria, with other sur¬ 
vivors, in a most demoralized condition. It is said that as 
they passed under the tunnel at Wilkes and Fairfax streets 
an old woman gathered stones in her apron and threw them 
at the panic-stricken soldiers, pressing on to the protection 
of the gunboats. Certain it is that many prominent citi- 


HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


69 


zens of Alexandria forgot the bitterness of the moment and 
opened their homes to the enemy thus scattered. It is a 
curious fact that in obeying an order to raise the flag of 
the invaders, for the first time near Market Square, a young 
soldier fell to the ground and was killed. 

The Marshall House may be looked upon as a memorial 
to the beginning of the greatest fratricidal conflict of his¬ 
tory, whose bitterness is fortunately gone forever. 

The “Zouaves” became good friends of Alexandria dur¬ 
ing the entire war, though this is questioned by some. 
These Federal forces learned to esteem Alexandrians highly. 


70 


THE ROMANCE OF 


XIX 

A MONUMENT TO A MAN WHO IS THE WONDER 

OF THE AGES 

“Because he needs no praise, will thou he dumb? 
“Excuse not silence so, for it lies in thee 
“To make him much outlive a gilded tongue, 

“And to be praised of ages yet to be.” 

— Shakespeare. 


The Masonic Memorial 



ASHINGTON thought highly of Masonry, as bol¬ 
stering up the principles of democracy which he 
had done so much to establish. The inception 
of this mammoth memorial lies with Alexandria- 
Washington Lodge No. 22, and the convention 
thus drawn together represented constituencies of Masonry 
in the United States and its insular possessions. William 
H. Taft, President of the United States, esteemed it a 
“pleasure and a privilege” to lay aside his august duties 
and gave it his earnest support. It might be interesting 
to notice just a few of the priceless relics* that will be kept 
in this shrine, to have sentimental value for all time. Old 
records will be kept that tell of participation in mighty 
events in a Nation’s history. 


The Pocket Compass 

We look upon The Pocket Compass of the youthful sur¬ 
veyor which he carried with him, while in training for the 
stirring events in which he was to take part. Ilis exact work 
with it brought him in contact with his chief benefactor, 
Lord Fairfax, who was first to discover in the boy the ele¬ 
ments of greatness which are a continual astonishment to 
the world. 

The Pocket Knife 

We see here his Pocket Knife which played an impor¬ 
tant part in a critical period of his career. It was presented 
by his mother, who had dissuaded him from accepting a 

* These and many more relics at present are to be seen in Masonic 
Temple in the Market Building. 




HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


71 


position of midshipman in the English navy and who gave 
it as a reward of submission to her will, thus changing the 
current of his life. At Valley Forge when the Continental 
Congress failed to provide for his starving army, though 
food was abundant about them, he actually wrote his resig¬ 
nation as commander-in-chief. General Knox reminded him 
of this little knife and his mother’s injunction always to 
obey his superiors. Half an hour later he had torn up his 
resignation determined to win freedom from King George 
III. This little knife was the means by which he was in¬ 
cited to do his duty at a most crucial time when the leaders 
were half-hearted, and this determination changed the map 
of the world and resulted in the foundation of the best 
government the world has ever seen. 

The Famous Trowel 

We see here the Trowel used by Washington at the 
laying of the cornerstone of the National Capitol. This 
historic building became later the permanent home of a 
government which has been a model for every democratic 
government since. Can you imagine the feelings of the 
chief actor in events that led to such a happy consumma¬ 
tion? Was there a new vow then to consecrate the re¬ 
mainder of his life through bitter and venomous criticism, 
to the firm establishment of those principles? 

The Old Clock 

Here is to be seen the Old Clock, which marked time 
in his bedroom, to the very moment when this mighty man 
of destiny passed into the great Beyond. Dr. Dick, one of 
the attending physicians, cut the pendulum cord and 
stopped this timepiece at the exact moment of his death. 

Thus we look upon the object marking an event, which at 
its announcement, produced in Alexandria general dis¬ 
order, wildness and consternation,” according to the local 
paper. It marked the end of a life but only the beginning 
of a World-wide influence that grows with the years. 


72 


THE ROMANCE OF 


The Alexandria Gazette 

The Alexandria Gazette, which has been publishing the 
events of the day since shortly after the Colonies threw off 
the bondage of the Mother country, is among the points 



ALEXANDRIA 


GAZETTE, 


.‘517 King Street 


of interest in connection with the history of the city. It 
has a record of publication reaching as far back as 1784, 
and is the oldest daily now published in the nation. 


















HISTORIC ALEXANDRIA 


73 


) 



HISTORIC PLACES IN ALEXANDRIA 

1. Christ Church (1783-8). 2. Lee’s boyhood home. 3. Hallowell 

House. 4. Friendship Engine House (1774). 5. Carlyle House (1752). 

6. City Hotel. 6. Washington Headquarters. 7. Relics in Washington Ma¬ 
sonic Lodge. 8. Oldest House in Alexandria (1751). 9. Lloyd House 
(1792). 10. Lafayette House. 11. Washington Free School (1785). 12. 

Site of Old Colonial Jail. 13. Site of Old Colonial Courthouse. 14. Site of 
Washington’s Town House. 15. Albert Pike House. 16. First Presbyte¬ 
rian Church (1774). 17. House of Dr. Elisha C. Dick. 18. House of Dr. 

James Craik. 19. Marshall House. 20. Anne Lee Memorial. 21. Home 
of “Light Horse Harry” Lee. 22. House of General Robedeau. 23. Wash¬ 
ington’s Tenement Houses. 24. Site of George Washington National Ma¬ 
sonic Memorial. 


(See Map on Page 74) 



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